Early HRT Information

[Grubby]

Can anyone help me out with some information from the very early HRT years.

Models raced, drivers, placings and chassis numbers of the cars up to about 1992.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Grubby

[Graeme]

Grubby,

How far back do you want to go ?

Are you interested in the very beginnings when Larry Perkins signed an agreement with Tom Walkinshaw and raced an uncompetitive Brock-spec VL Group A in the 1988 ATCC.

In that year HRT had not been formalised, and the cars basically ran in the colours of HSV, more simply commercially referred to then as Holden and the "Special Vehicles" division.

[Grubby]

Graeme

That is exactly where I would like to start.

Do you have any info or chassis numbers from that time onwards ?

Grubby

[Graeme]

Grubby,

You'll be hard-pressed to get actual race car chassis particulars, but I'll see what I can dig out in the way of general information.

Part of the trick in sorting out the history of VL-bodied race cars is determining which chassis were Perkins-built, TWR England-built, or (later) HRT-built.

Maybe some HSV/HRT insiders can provide the full story ....any ace spies out there in Forumland ?

[Grubby]

Thanks Graeme

I am still follwoing up info on the HRT chassis numbers - got a few but not all.

Thought I would see if anyone has some older info.

Anything you get would be greatly appreiciated.

Grubby

[brchi17]

Grubby,
I was wondering just what you used this info for ?
Are you looking to purchase an old racecar , etc... ?
I thought this may have been of interest to other readers, as I am interested as to what this type of information could be used for.
As for the exact birth of HRT was that in 1988 just after the breakup of HDT ?
Larry Perkins ran the whole Holden side of things for a while as i had a feeling that they (Holden) went missing from motorsport after the Brock polleriser.
It could have been the 1989/1990 summer, before HRT (as it is now known) set up shop in Clayton & ran those TWR Commodores, which were maintained by Perkins.
I'm sure there are some real 'Holden nuts' that would know the exact dates etc....
cheers.

[Grubby]

1988 was the birth of TWR - Originally running under the name of SV Racing ( Due to the direct links it had with HSV in the very early days.
This later became HRT as we know it now.

I am just collecting this info up as a diehard supporter/fan.

From time to time you see old cars for sale and they state the chassis numbers. I have seen a few of these and the new owners are always keen to know the history of the car they have just purchased. It is also interesting to see the cars take on the look of a different model. ( Eg. the VK chassis were made to look like VL's etc. )

To me I guess it is just part of my hobby of collecting model cars. Maybe I am taking it too far but hey..................

Any info would be appreciated.

Grubby

PS One day I would love to aquire on old car and resore it to it's racing glory.

[Graeme]

Hello again Grubby and others; the following is as accurate as I know but may contain some inaccuracies.....

The VL Walkie was born for Bathurst.

I note Grubby says " 1988 was the birth of TWR ", but 1988 was really the birth year of the fuel-injected VL SS Group A , or the VL Walkinshaw as it's come to be known.

Tom Walkinshaw, the man, had been racing in England for many years prior. His company, TWR came to prominence in 1976 when he began running factory/dealer network-backed BMW touring cars. He later moved onto Mazda and then the Jaguars and Rovers, which we saw at Bathurst in 1984 and 1985.

The Rovers ran their Group A course to the end of 1986 and thereafter TWR intended running Holden Commodores in European touring car events. Of course, in 1986, nobody had foretold of the impending impact of the Ford Sierra Cosworth.

1987 was a year of Holden turmoil. The Brock bust-up happened in February, around the time that Holden's motorsport interests were changing. The Holden Motor Sport Group was established in March 1987, and the first drivers to be recognised by Holden in the Group were Larry Perkins and Allan Grice.

Perkins had split from the HDT in 1985 and subsequently set up his own racing business of Perkins Engineering. He ran a Giltrap owned, Enzed sponsored VK Commodore at Bathurst in 1986 and 1987. He had built a Brock-spec VL for Bathurst 1987, but later decided to stick with the old VK for that race.

In relation to the road-going homologation cars, Holden needed an organisation to pick up development from the Brock/HDT fallout. At the same time, TWR reportedly already had an ex-HDT VK Commodore and three VL bodyshells in England, and by June 1987 Holden confirmed a joint venture with TWR, which became Holden Special Vehicles. TWR held a 75% stake in the venture.

At the Sydney Motor Show in October/November 1987, artists impressions of the new Group A car were unveiled. The rules stated that 500 road cars had to be built before a race car could be homologated.

Although the new Group A was shown to the press in February 1988, due to industrial disputes and problems in manufacture of the complex fibreglass body kit, the car would not be homologated for racing until September 1988.

Perkins Engineering spawned Perkins Motorsport, which became the Australian arm of Walkinshaw's "Special Vehicles" racing division in 1988. It was not until 1989 that the Holden Racing Team emerged, and later to be known simply as HRT.

Larry's team became primarily responsible for the new car's engine development, and in the 1988 ATCC Larry was one of the few Commodore race drivers. He had only the one car initially, that being the Brock-spec VL that had originally been intended for the 1987 Bathurst race. This car ran Larry's favoured racing number, #11.

Tom Walkinshaw, and Jeff Allam, sporadically ran one of their Brock-spec VL's in one or two European races, but TWR was effectively just waiting upon homologation of the new car.
The UK race car was painted blue and yellow and ran sponsorship from a TWR owned company, 'Herbie Clips'.

Come September 1988, the new fuel-injected VL was clear to race and Perkins had in the meantime built a brand new Walkie racer. At the same time he performed surgery on the old car to bring it up to Walkie specs. In England, TWR had also developed two Walkie-spec cars, one of which was shipped to Australia for Bathurst.

Prior to Bathurst, Perkins had his two cars run at the Sandown 500. Car #10 was the brand new car, driven by Larry Perkins and Denny Hulme. Car #11 was driven by Jeff Allam and Armin Hahne.

BATHURST 1988 :

Car #11 became Car #40 which was really just a backup spare, but earlier had been considered by Walkinshaw as a possible starter ( with Win Percy and John Harvey as drivers, to form a three car team assault ).

Car #20 was the UK-built car flown in for the race and to be driven by Tom Walkinshaw and Jeff Allam.

Car#10 was as per it's appearance at Sandown, to be driven by Perkins and Hulme.

There were significant engineering differences between Car #10 and Car #20, mainly in engine management systems, front and rear suspension components, and wheels and brakes.
Walkinshaw's car only survived five laps of the race suffering embarrassing tyre-shredding rear suspension failure, but as the drivers were cross-entered, he did end up behind the wheel of Car #10 which at one time was running as high as second place before succumbing to engine failure, having completed 137 laps of the race.

The 'Special Vehicles' Walkinshaw-spec cars for 1988 were sponsored in the main by Holden, Telecom, and Castrol, with other support from Sansui, Yokohama, Australian Airlines, Bilstein, and Champion. The cars also featured the logos of Holden Motor Sport and Holden's Engine Company.



The adventures of HRT in 1989/90 will appear in my next Forum posting.

[Grubby]

That's excellent reading Graeme.

Look forward to your next post.

Grubby

[frosty]

Graeme,

I concur with Grubby, it is excellent reading.

I await with 'bated breath' for your next instalment :)

[v8coupe]

posted by Graeme
1987 was a year of Holden turmoil. The Brock bust-up
Can anyone explain what happened with brock / holden / HDT?
As I would like to hear more about this.
Thanks

[loste_treasures]

Originally posted by v8coupe
posted by Graeme

Can anyone explain what happened with brock / holden / HDT?
As I would like to hear more about this.
Thanks

This book might provide some good reading. Although the Rise of Peter Brock might not be of interest to you, im sure the Fall of Peter Brock would be.

It was written around the time of the famous bust up. Im not sure where you can get a copy as i have also been trying to get one.

Any help would be most appreciated.

[Graeme]

Hello fellas,

I have "The Rise and Fall of Peter Brock" but I wouldn't recommend it to any true diehard Brock fan ...it could shatter some pristine perceptions.

It is what you might describe as a 'warts and all' story, and goes way back in time delving into the personal and professional lives of Brock and Harvey since their respective adolescent racing days.

The Holden / HDT bustup is a fascinating story that goes far beyond a plastic box of resin and magnets known as the Energy Polariser. By the way, that little box was a $465.00 HDT option item in 1987; I wonder what one would be worth today as a collectors item ??

Perhaps I'll spill some of the Brock book beans later, but I'd better satisfy Grubby's HRT curiousity first.......

[Graeme]

I haven't yet unearthed much history on the HSV / HRT situation of 1989. I reckon the whole arrangement suffered badly of a bad Bathurst result in 1988 and the added embarrassment of an upheld protest as to the legality of the cars at that race.

For whatever reasons, Holden did not run an official team in the 1989 ATCC series. Larry Perkins turned out in one of his 1988 cars running his #11 on the doors, but sans HSV sponsorship.
The car sill had the white/red/black/grey paintjob, but only Castrol sponsorship on the bonnet and the word Holden along the door sills. One of the sister Perkins cars had been sold and was being driven by Lyndon Riethmuller; this car ran a similar paint scheme with green-coloured highlights to slightly differentiate it from the Perkins car.

The only other Commodore of interest in 1989 was the late series emergence of the Roadways FAI car driven by Allan Grice.

Holden Racing Team was confirmed after the ATCC that year and Larry Perkins was again contracted by TWR / HSV to prepare the newly named team for the 1989 endurances races at Sandown and Bathurst...... to be continued......

[Graeme]

The creation of the Holden Racing Team sometime in the latter half of 1989 meant there now existed a new entity separate to Holden Special Vehicles.

I'm not fully conversant with the contractual arrangements, but I've read that the TWR Group established HRT as it is now known in order that it was effectively completely independent of the Holden company, then known as GMHA. In that way, it could be said that Holden had only a commercial sponsorship involvement with the racing team.

Motoring journals also suggested that TWR wanted total control of the racing arm and ultimately it did in 1990. Meanwhile, with only a few weeks to go prior to the endurance race series, Larry Perkins was again contracted to prepare a two car team for Sandown and Bathurst. I don't have any details of the Sandown race other than Perkins car performed well enough to secure 2nd place in that race.

At Bathurst 1989, Perkins had three cars at his disposal, one purely as a practice 'T' car, the other two being car #16 for himself and Tomas Mezera, and car #7 for Win Percy and Neil Crompton. I understand that all three cars were Australian built Perkins Motorsport cars.

The Commodores were up against the improved production RS500 version of the Sierra, which had a huge weight of numbers advantage for outright honours. No Commodore featured in the top ten shootout, and of the top 20 cars, 15 were Sierras.

In the race, the Commodores were reliable but not quick enough, with car #16 finishing sixth and car #7 finishing seventh, both three laps down on the winning Johnson Sierra.
Mind you, only six Sierras finished in the top twenty race finishers.

[Graeme]

It would seem that following Win Percy's participation in the 1989 Bathurst event, Tom Walkinshaw asked him to consider moving permanently from England to Australia in order to set up a purpose-built racing team facility and to perform lead driver duties as well in 1990.

Larry Perkins was again set adrift so-to-speak but with the explicit understanding that this year he would be racing against HRT and not as part of it. He would however still have some factory support via Holden's Motor Sport Group.

I'm not sure who got what in the way of VL Commodore race cars, but I assume Perkins did keep his HRT-liveried cars of 1989.
I have read that HRT rebuilt the UK TWR Commodore that expired at Bathurst in 1988, and perhaps the previous posting sister UK TWR car was also sent out to Australia ....I don't know for sure.

However, Win Percy established a workshop for HRT for 1990 and employed Wally Storey as Workshop Manager and Rob Benson as Engine Development Manager.

Percy raced the #16 HRT Commodore in the 1990 ATCC with essentially the same livery as debuted in the 1989 endurance races. Notable visual differences amounted to black centrelock wheels and deletion of the standard Holden door mirrors.

Perkins debuted his virginal white car #11 with the Perkins Engineering logo along the flanks but also retaining some commercial support from Castrol.

At Bathurst in 1990, the Commodores benefited from a full season's development and both rivals qualified in the top ten.
In the race, it was a case of both cars trading the lead at different stages, but ultimately the Win Percy / Allan Grice car #16 won (apparently the rebuilt Walkinshaw/Allam car of 1988 ) with the 'privateer' car #11 of Perkins / Mezera third.
The second HRT car #7 was driven by Neil Crompton and Brad Jones into fifth position.

Win Percy stayed on with HRT to develop and drive the new VN model Group A Commodore for racing in 1991, and Larry Perkins surprised many by forming a new two car Mobil sponsored VN alliance with Peter Brock.

[Graeme]

v8coupe was curious about the demise of Peter Brock's HDT alliance with Holden.

A statement was issued by Holden on 19 Feb 1987, which I quote in part as follows :

.......

"The difficulties experienced between Holden's and Peter Brock extend over many months and revolve around a variety of significant concerns including a device called the energy polariser."

"Of particular concern are plans by HDT to launch a product which Holden has not been given sufficient opportunity to review. Holden's have always insisted that every new vehicle promoted by Peter Brock and HDT that were modified products of Holden origin would be expected to carry normal warranties. As Holden's were not being provided with the opportunity to review Peter Brock's intended changes, test them, and have them comply with ADR, the company was given no choice but to disassociate itself from future HDT products. This includes the Plus Pack, the Commodore and Calais Sports Pack and soon to be announced Director model."

.......



In a subsequent statement on 27 Feb 1987, Holden defended it's position in the following terms :

.......

"Holden's has tried to make it clear that the decision to cease business relationships with Brock/HDT does not in any way interfere with Peter Brock buying registered vehicles through any dealership , modifying them and eventually selling them under his own brand. If these modifications were not approved by Holden's and did not comply with Australian Design Rules, Peter Brock would, under such circumstances, carry legal, warranty and service obligations."

.......

"Peter Brock's claim that the business relationship ceased because of plans having been established to restructure Holden's internal Motor Sport Group is untrue. This group had been in existence for some time prior to the split ...... established as a group of people from Holden's who worked with Brock/HDT.
Obviously with the business relationship with Brock/HDT now over, Holden's will need to examine its options, and is certainly doing so at this time."



The above is only the final instalment of a long story; if you've seen a Brock VL SS Group A, you'll note that the Holden dealer version didn't feature the famous man's signature decal ....you had to purchase the HDT Plus Pack to get the signature, and which included other features such as the Energy Polarizer. This car was the first obvious public sign of divisions between Holden's and HDT.
The later ADR complaints/concerns raised by Holden related to noise and emissions levels, brake systems compliance, and ultimately the final straw was considered to be the independent rear suspension fitted by HDT to the extrovert VL Director.

Peter Brock's reorganised business continued to modify Holden Commodore VL cars into 1988 but thereafter shifted it's focus to other makes, most notably Ford's EA Falcons and NA Fairlanes.

[Grubby]

Graeme

Once again great stuff. Look forward to your next post.

Grubby

[v8coupe]

Thank you Graeme.

[Esses]

Graeme, mate, you're a walking encyclopedia! Where do you get your information? If you can ever bring yourself to buy a so-so Trax model, you can get the Perkins '88 VL, with Castrol, Holden Special Vehicles, Dunlop, Bilstein & Australian Airlines Sponsorship.
The model is nothing great, but the paint job is pretty good & my favourite is the Aust.Air logo as I used to work for Australian Cargo - the Airfreight Arm of Aust.Air.

[McLarenFan]

Sorry rehash an old thread but!!

If I was to collect Holden Racing Team vehicles only, would the 1988 VL commodore be included in that list as an HRT vehicle or would I have to begin with the 1989 vehicle, which I don't think has been released yet??

[malscar]

I would be saying '88 with Perkins running the old VL in HSV colours from the first round of the ATCC at Calder. This of course morphed into the batmobile for Bathurst with the British version self imploding with it's suspension setup etc.

[McLarenFan]

Just another one on this, was the FAI VL Commodore driven at Bathurst by Grice and Percy at Bathurst in 1988 a seperate entrant or were they part of the mix of HRT/TK racing etc.

[Designer]

Sorry rehash an old thread but!!

If I was to collect Holden Racing Team vehicles only, would the 1988 VL commodore be included in that list as an HRT vehicle or would I have to begin with the 1989 vehicle, which I don't think has been released yet??

Awsome reading Graeme !!!!

I can add a little info on all this from a Design point of view.

Mike Simcoe designed the original livery for the '88 car, and also the famous black/white livery that ran for many years after.....
Holden design was also responsible for the original HSV logo

Mike is now director of Exterior Design in the US of all GM cars.

He was also responsible for the VL Walkinshaw Group A, done through Holden Design....he flew to the UK to oversee the project.

Mike was my boss in 1990 when I joined Holden Design...and there were sketches of the VL racecar on the walls above his office....it showed the original #11 VL with Perkins name of the fender, but the car was bright blue and white, not the final black white that was used in 89

Simcoe also led the design of the VN Group A

There was some design work in 92 {??}, when the VP was homoligated, but it was mainly sponser movements...this was the first year I was ever involved with HRT....

Not a lot happened from 92 to 95...HRT using basically the same livery with sponser change and slight color changes....Holden Design was not involved with HRT during this period....

'96 was a big livery change, but it was done "inhouse at HRT/HSV"..im not sure who was responsible...

It was '97 that HRT again looked to Holden Design for a fresh new look, and Simcoe allowed me to have my first crack at a full HRT livery....it was Brock's last full year, and the introduction of red.....the red swoosh.

In 98, HSV were expanding quickly, and employed their own graphic artist/designer and he did the 98 livery....that livery ran onto the new VT initially, but the Holden factory wanted another fresh look on the VT for 99...my second go.

2000 was the year "Holden" really got involved heavily, with the car becoming prodominately red.....

2001, 2002 were the years of the chequers and the elimintion of the dark blue....designed by Warrack Leach, still at Holden Design.

2003 was the introduction of the VY and the livery for that year was done by Max wolff, who was also lead designer on the VY road car...he's now Director of Design-Cadillac

2004 and 2005 were done by Justin Thompson, another young exterior Designer....whos also in detriot with GM...

Pete.

[malscar]

Just another one on this, was the FAI VL Commodore driven at Bathurst by Grice and Percy at Bathurst in 1988 a seperate entrant or were they part of the mix of HRT/TK racing etc.

Fairly sure I will be corrected on this, but I vaguely remember it was a Garry Rogers car and entry.

[david5]

Fairly sure I will be corrected on this, but I vaguely remember it was a Garry Rogers car and entry.

Les Small built & prepared two Commodores, FAI for Gricey & the other for Gary Rodgers & John Andretti, ran out of the same pit, but not as a team. Andretti crashed the Rodgers car & the FAI car ended up an AUSCAR on the dome & was destroyed.

Cheers David

[hobby]

Fantastic reading
a big well done to Graeme
and all others who contributed to this great thread.

[ferrari fan]

Yes Graeme, well done!
Alf Barbagallo though his off sider build 2 VL's as well with some help/imput from LP/HRT
Both were bought by Phill Johnston, current president of the WASCC, and competed in the V8 series
One of these cars was used for making the VL race cars including the Bathurst winner VL
Phill also bought before that a VK from Peter brock together with a mountain of spares.

[david5]

Could you please expand on the comments about th e Bathurst winners ? Are you saying that HDT used a AB built car to win 87 Bathurst ?????

Cheers David