A field of 15 early model V8 Supercars will feature at this weekend’s Historic Sandown meeting as a new association pushes the preservation of the 1993-2002 generation vehicles.
Sandown will mark the first major race meeting for the Australian 5.0 Litre Touring Car Association, which is led by experienced historic touring car restorer and competitor Troy Kelly.
The Sandown field includes an ex-Glenn Seton Racing Falcon driven by Kelly, while the 1993 Bathurst winning Larry Perkins Commodore and 2001 Marcos Ambrose Stone Brothers Falcon are among other highlights.
The cars will be limited to demonstration runs at Sandown, although competitive races aren’t being ruled out for the future.
“At the moment we’re focussing on demonstrations, or spirited displays as we call them,” Kelly told Speedcafe.com.
“Down the track we will possibly look at race formats, but at this stage we just want to get as many cars out there as we can.
“Sandown is our first major race meeting and after that we’ll have a closer look at what we will do into the future.
“I think next year we should be able to put 25 cars on the grid pretty easily,” he added.
Kelly says that he’s been overwhelmed by the positive feedback from fans through social media and at a low-key Winton’s Festival of Speed appearance earlier this year.
“All of the feedback that I’ve got about the association has been positive and I can’t believe the amount of people that compare them favourably with the cars of today,” he said.
“I suppose V8 Supercars these days are custom built race cars whereas these were still production based cars. There was a lot of fabricated stuff but they were a lot more basic.
“Even the signage and those types of things were more basic in those days and they were just easier to relate back to the road cars.”
Sandown is one of the nation’s premiere historic meetings with more than 400 cars set to compete across a variety of touring car, open-wheel and sportscar classes.
CLICK HERE for more about the Australian 5.0 Litre Touring Car Association with Troy Kelly in this week’s Cafe Chat
CLICK HERE for the full Sandown schedule and entry list
V8 Supercars commentator Aaron Noonan is an honorary member of the 5.0 Litre association and will be on hand at Sandown.
Tracking the history of all V8 Superars chassis through his V8Sleuth.com.au website, Noonan provides the inside word on the Sandown field below.
Troy Kelly – Ford Falcon EF GSR5 (Glenn Seton Racing)
This Glenn Seton Racing Falcon was debuted as an EB by Seton and Paul Radisich at the 1994 Bathurst 1000, where it took pole position before falling foul of mechanical trouble in the race. Upgraded to an EF, it became Alan Jones’ car for the following season, finishing second at Bathurst with Jones and Alan Grice. After a brief stint in the hands of privateer Ray Hislop, the car sat idle for almost 15 years prior to its resurrection by current owner Andre Matheson.
Angelo Taranto – Ford Falcon AU FTR2 (Ford Tickford Racing)
A Ford Tickford Racing Falcon that debuted in the hands of Neil Crompton at Phillip Island in 1999. It’s best known for scoring pole position for the 2000 Bathurst 1000 with Wayne Gardner in a rain-hit Top 10 Shootout. This chassis was inherited by Steven Richards when he joined FTR for the following year, recording FTR’s only race win in the reverse grid Race 2 at the 2001 Canberra 400.
Steve Tate – Holden Commodore VL (Ampol Max 3 Racing)
This Holden Commodore VL debuted in the Group A era but continued to be campaigned by Bob Jones’ Ampol-backed outfit into the ‘5.0 litre’ period. It’s most notable outing was the 1992 Bathurst 1000, where Jones was joined by Peter Janson in what proved to be the Melbourne socialite’s last Great Race start.
Kane Fitzgerald – Holden Commodore VS PP1 (Palmer Promotions)
Built by Ian Palmer’s Palmer Promotions outfit, this Commodore made its debut as a VP at the 1994 Gold Coast Indycar meeting. It finished a credible 14th in that year’s Bathurst 1000 in the hands of Palmer and Brett Peters. After competing in several ATCC rounds, it appeared in Hungry Jacks colours for the 1995 endurace races, although failed to finish at both Sandown and Bathurst.
Bruce Heinrich – Ford Falcon AU SER2 (Supercheap Auto Racing)
A Beehag shell built up by Steven Ellery’s Supercheap-backed team, this car made its debut at Winton in 2001. Co-driven by former Le Mans winner Geoff Brabham, it took a top 10 finish at that year’s Bathurst 1000. Ellery campaigned the car in the V8 Supercars Championship for multiple seasons before it eventually joined the Development Series. It lost the 2004 title on a countback in the hands of Luke Youlden.
Craig Miles – Ford Falcon AU DJR AU11 (Dick Johnson Racing)
This Dick Johnson Racing Falcon AU made a spectacular debut at Sandown in 2000, where Paul Radisich drove it to Ford’s only round victory of the season. Radisich then teamed with Jason Bright to finish second at Bathurst. The car was campaigned by Steven Johnson in 2001, where it won the Canberra 400. The following year it moved down to the Development Series, where it would be steered by the likes of Tony Ricciardello, Owen Kelly and David Brabham.
Milton Seferis – Holden Commodore VT GMS 009 (Gibson Motor Sport)
Debuted by the K-Mart branded Gibson Motor Sport team at Calder in 2000, this car was initially driven by Greg Murphy. It became the Murphy/Steven Richards car for the Queensland and Bathurst endurance races, scoring podium finishes on both occasions. Current Touring Car Masters competitor Eddie Abelnica bought the car from GMS in 2001, after which point it made limited appearances in Melbourne’s Cheapest Cars colours.
Ian Cowley – Holden Commodore VP PE 017 (Perkins Engineering)
After starting the 1993 ATCC in a VL, PE 017 was the first of the 5.0 litre generation cars to be campaigned by Larry Perkins when it debuted at Phillip Island. It won that year’s Bathurst 1000 with Perkins and Greg Hansford before being sold to privateer John Trimbole for 1994. Trimbole and Garry Waldon took the car to ninth and top privateer at Bathurst in 1994. It became James Rosenberg’s first V8 Supercar in 1995, when it was driven by Mark Poole, and will appear at Sandown in the VS specification in which it finished its ATCC career.
Troy Stapelton – Ford Falcon EL DJR EL7 (Dick Johnson Racing)
DJR’s seventh V8 Supercar debuted at the 1996 Sandown 500 in the hands of Dick Johnson/John Bowe, who drove it to second place in the following month’s Bathurst 1000. Driven by Bowe for the following two seasons, it was memorably involved in the Bowe/Johnson clash at Surfers Paradise in 1997. Having taken Bowe to his final ATCC round victory at Winton in 1998, the car returned for one last victory at Surfers in 1999, where it was steered by Paul Radisich.
Milton Seferis – Holden Commodore VT GMS 010 (Gibson Motor Sport)
One of two GMS Holdens now owned by Seferis, this car is understood to have run as Steven Richards’ stead for the 2000 season. It took overall victory at the Canberra 400 and at Calder that year before going on to finish second in the 2001 Development Series, where it was driven by Paul Dumbrell.
Kevin Stoopman – Ford Falcon AU JBMS 001 (John Briggs Motor Sport)
John Bowe debuted this car at Eastern Creek in 2001. It showed strong speed in both of that year’s endurance races, taking the Bathurst lap record in the hands of Simon Wills before falling foul of some overzealous driving. Wills took over the car following Bowe’s post-Bathurst departure from the team, with a long list of drivers sharing the duties following Wills’ own exit during the following year.
Keith Linnell – Ford Falcon EL PSR1 (Playscape Racing)
Built in New Zealand, this chassis was originally raced by Kevin Waldock’s Playscape Racing in 1993. Debuting at the Sandown 500 with Waldock and Bretty Peters at the wheel, the car was the first privateer Falcon to race under the 5.0 litre rules. Waldock ran the car for two years before it was eventually sold to John Briggs, with whom it became the first Supercheap Auto-backed V8 Supercar. It also made a single appearance as a John Bowe CAT Falcon when the Briggs team elected to rest its AU for Surfers Paradise in 2000.
Allen Nash – Holden Commodore VS PE 026 (Perkins Engineering)
This Commodore was built by Perkins Engineering for David ‘Truckie’ Parsons in 1995. The car served as John Goss’ last competitive race car when the two-time Bathurst winner joined Parsons at Sandown. Parsons endured a major crash in the car at Bathurst after suffering a mechanical failure; which resulted in Perkins gifting Parsons a new shell. The damaged PE 026 was briefly owned but never raced by then AUSCAR competitor John Faulkner and returns to the track this weekend in the hands of Nash.
Mike Imrie – Holden Commodore VT GMS 007 (Gibson Motor Sport)
Another Gibson Holden in the weekend’s line-up, this car was run by Steven Richards during the 1999 season. Currently painted as the 1999 Bathurst 1000 winner, GMS 007 was run by GMS as the David ‘Truckie’ Parsons/David ‘Skippy’ Parsons Challenge Recruitment entry during that year’s endurance races.
Ray Colenso – Ford Falcon AU SBRAU4 (Stone Brothers Racing)
Now owned by Dean Montgomery, this Stone Brothers Falcon AU is one of just two V8 Supercars ever raced by Marcos Ambrose. The Tasmanian scored pole on debut at the 2001 Australian Grand Prix meeting. Other highlights that year included a round win at Hidden Valley and a Bathurst pole. Ambrose continued to campaign the car through 2002, with overall victory at Sandown that year proving the last round win for an AU.
