John Bowe reunited with iconic CAT Falcon

Bowe drove the 2001-specification car recently at Sydney Motorsport Park in a special run before it is offered for sale by its current owner.

“It was nice. It brought back a lot of memories,” Bowe told Speedcafe of being reacquainted with the Briggs Motorsport-built Falcon.

“In 2001 we could have possibly won Bathurst, it’s one of those coulda, shoulda, woulda things, but it was a quick car.

“I qualified seventh and drove to the front in the first stint. That was against the might of HRT and Kmart and all the rest of them. So it was a very good car and it still is.”

Bowe set a new lap record during that sizzling opening stint in the 2001 race.

Young co-driver Simon Wills then went even faster before coming unstuck while carving through the field following a bungled pitstop.

It proved to be Bowe’s last race with the CAT team as he was sacked in the aftermath and replaced by Wills, who continued in the car into 2002. 

“It’s in great original condition,” Bowe continued of the Falcon today.

“Even the air ducting was just as I’d had it, still with the same zip-ties on it. It’s amazing to think that was 23 years ago.

“I did six or seven laps in it on old tyres, so I didn’t do anything crazy, but it was like going out with an old girlfriend.”

Bowe stepped back from regular competition in the Touring Car Masters this year but continues to spend plenty of time at race tracks.

He’s co-driving a Randall Racing BMW M4 in the new GT4 Australia Series and will be in action at SMP this weekend in the Mazda RX8 Cup.

Next month he’ll tackle the Heritage Revival support races at the Bathurst 1000 in an ex-Allan Grice Group C Commodore.

“I love racing at Bathurst and this was appealing to me because it’s a Group C car and an Allan Grice car. He’s someone I’ve always had a lot of time for,” Bowe said.

“It was only after I’d agreed to drive it that I was told it doesn’t have power steering, so it’ll be an interesting experience!”

Anyone interested in purchasing the CAT Falcon is encouraged to contact Hamilton Urquhart on 0408 235 374.