46 replies to this topic

[Shiney005]

This is two weeks late but I have finally sorted out my photos from the trip to Victoria with Craig and Dave. A big thanks to the club for organising the tour of the Lang Lang proving grounds, to Phil Walmsley for getting us in on it, and Liz Claire, Graham Brown and Brett (?) for the rides in their cars.

 

 

The car that was the whole reason for me going on the trip. I have wanted to see it for years. Mick, Anna and Aaron Cameron were amazing with the general public. They always had time to answer questions and were very happy to have punters in their pit bay while they worked on the cars.

 

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The look on Craig's face after going for a hot lap in it says it all.  I went for a run as well and after expecting the factory team car to handle like an open wheeler, I was amazed to find that it wasn't much different to the L34 road cars. Everything just happened at a higher speed. The guys who drove these things around Bathurst in the 70's had basketBALLS.

 

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Not a lot of protection for the drivers feet in the Ferrari F1 car.

 

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Famous driver for this one.

 

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Sexy rear.

 

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Brabham V8 was stunning.

 

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[Shiney005]

Novel use of bath plugs.  This was one of Graham Hill's cars. (Cooper I think) It weighed 470 kgs and made 410 horsepower. Not bad for the early sixties.

 

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I didn't have any respect for the Nissan's back in the day, but I do now. Incredible power for the size of the motor.

 

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The Phil Lyon race car. This was an April '74 build SLR, and it was converted to L34, and then A9X specs over the years and was still racing in the 80s.

 

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Rare GMP&A Commodore. 

 

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Ahh, ya silly goose!!!

 

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Good vantage point from above the pits.

 

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Ex Grice A9X (The ex ex Bonds car I think) and Axistr's XU1.

 

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[Shiney005]

Bugatti.  $$$$$

 

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Big $ get you some fairly basic brakes though.

 

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Nice L34

 

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This one is the real deal as well. It is the car that Brock was given for his comeback drive with HDT and he creamed the hatchbacks in it.

 

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Another couple of standouts. (The cars, not you Dave!)

 

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The TCM rules are funny things. You can have extra adjustable suspension links and a panhard rod in your HQ, but you still have to have drums.

 

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I'm getting to the Torana's. Trust me. It's just that some of the vintage stuff is too beautiful to exclude.

 

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[Shiney005]

Spaghetti tin for an exhaust? Must be competing with the Subaru drivers. 

 

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Awesome little Escort.

 

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I hired a Commodore, expecting it to be a VF, but I ended up with the Daewoo version. Actually I have driven Daewoo's that were better than this thing. No feel in the steering or the brakes. Handled like any other cheap front driver. It was gutless. And wouldn't do a rolly back without stalling. It's no wonder people aren't buying them.

 

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A few of the race cars got permits to drive them into town where there was a bit of a car show for the locals in the evening.  This is one of the original Dealer Team Monaro's.

 

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And finally, a few Torana's.

 

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[Shiney005]

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Grice engine bay.

 

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One from the dark side.

 

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It sounded pretty awesome when they all fired up and drove back through town to the track that evening.

 

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The next morning we tagged along with the GTR & XU1 club to Holden's Lang Lang proving ground, which is only opened up to clubs a few times a year. All phones and cameras had to be handed in at the gate as there is still secret testing going on there. It drove me bananas not being able to get shots of the new Cadillac. Henry and Darren, the two engineers who took us on the tour did so off their own unpaid bat. They are true Holden enthusiasts and they went over and above what anybody would expect of them to make sure we all had a good time. 

Waiting at the security gate.

 

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[Shiney005]

On the skid pan for a group shot.  Later that day, I was fortunate enough to go for a ride with Henry in a VF SSV Redline on the skidpan and he didn't hold back. After half a dozen goes at it he ended up blowing one of the back tyres and had to put it away. That car was a pre production build that had done 65,000 of the hardest kilometers you could imagine, and yet it still drove like my one with 5000 on the clock. You don't know what you have got until it's gone.

 

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I am putting this one up, only because I know how much she hates being in front of a camera.

 

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We all went out and did a lap of the ride and handling loop, and then a lap of the 5 kilometer speed bowl.

 

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And then it was back to Phillip Island for the rest of the historic meet.  Another well known forum member here.

 

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[Shiney005]

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This recently built replica is up for sale.

 

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I would love to get in touch with the owner of this car. (The L34 below)  0428 308 202   [email protected]

 

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There is a "REPCO Re-Trial" coming up later this year, with pre 1985 cars invited to join. They will be covering most of the same loop they did in '79, but with the option of detours around the really rough stuff.

 

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This was out in the car park. Tough as nails.

 

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I couldn't help myself here. I love Aston's.

 

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Edited by Shiney005, 25 March 2019 - 11:31 AM.

[Shiney005]

Getting into some serious Torana action now.

 

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[Shiney005]

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I don't know much about the little Torana's, but I know what I like, and I really liked this LC.

 

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FC out in the pits.

 

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Ex Pollard L34 is for sale, but I was too scared to ask how much.

 

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[Shiney005]

Is this one of Rory's builds??

 

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Original Brock / Moffat VK.

 

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The first time that this many original Group C Torana's have been on the same track at once in a long time.

 

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[Shiney005]

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There was another photoshoot early the following morning with some of the original drivers, but with a ban on starting race engines before 9.00am, (wouldn't want to wake up the geese!) all cars had to be pushed on and off the track.

 

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[Shiney005]

Anna Cameron was not afraid to get her hands dirty. She knew how to peddle the old beast around the track too.

 

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The white A9X hatch on the left was a very nice unrestored example. The yellow L34 was feeling a bit grumpy as it was a bit cold and too early. She just needed a quick cup of Start ya Bastard and she was in a good mood for the rest of the day.

 

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The HDT SL/R 5000. This car used to be owned by a bloke just down the road from me. We had no idea what it was at the time.

 

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As much as I love my LH Torana's, this Vee Dub was the coolest car in the carpark.

 

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One for Datto.

 

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Edited by Shiney005, 25 March 2019 - 12:00 PM.

[Shiney005]

The original paint on this had been polished so much over the years that you could see the primer through it most places.

 

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Nice assortment of cars out in the park.

 

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There is a go kart track out the back that is a scaled down version of the real circuit.

 

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The HDT car was running a bit rough on the Sunday arvo.

 

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Three special L34's. The HDT rally car, followed by the GMH press car, followed by one of the Bob Jane driving school cars.

 

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Edited by Shiney005, 25 March 2019 - 12:07 PM.

[Shiney005]

XU1 getting a bit of sideways action in the TCM series.

 

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Shaggin' Wagon.

 

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One of my first Torana's was Contessa Gold.

 

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People starting to head home.

 

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[Shiney005]

When we got back to the house on Sunday night, this was parked over the road. It is one of three factory built in right hand drive for the Australian parliament, and it is a daily driver.

 

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Once again, a big thanks to Phil for organising everything. It was he who went to the trouble of finding a house, and he ended up sleeping on the lounge the first night because there weren't enough beds!!! Also, cheers to all the forum members and Facebitch friends that I met while I was over there. You are all legends, and you made it a weekend I will never forget. Hope all goes well with the move Grant.

 

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[Ice]

A - where was my invite B- You must have forgotten how to do roll backs C - Great pics Laurie I heard you took a couple of thousound lol

[Cook]

That is simply awesome Laurie.  Thank you for sharing.  I'll have a grin on my face for the rest of the day now. Cheers Ron

[Liz Clare]

"I am putting this one up, only because I know how much she hates being in front of a camera." um, yeah...

 

Thanks for your pics Shiny, (and my one as well I suppose) Glad you survived being scrunched up in the back seat of the green car.

 

Sure was great to catch up with you WA boys during the PI weekend, I'll be back next year so we might all see each other again

 

Cheers,

 

Liz

[eyepeeler]

Just dont let Dave see you pushing an L34...... It will give him ammo to use against us hahaha

[Shiney005]

A - where was my invite B- You must have forgotten how to do roll backs C - Great pics Laurie I heard you took a couple of thousound lol

I gotta say Gene, I don't know if my body could handle the extra alcohol that would have been required had you been there. As for the rollbacks, that POS is the first car that I have not been able to make the wheels smoke ever. And that list includes Mazda 808s, and an auto Hyundai Elantra.

Just dont let Dave see you pushing an L34...... It will give him ammo to use against us hahaha

Especially after the "Pooshooter" comment he got this morning!!!

[Dr Terry]

I hired a Commodore, expecting it to be a VF, but I ended up with the Daewoo version. Actually I have driven Daewoo's that were better than this thing. No feel in the steering or the brakes. Handled like any other cheap front driver. It was gutless. And wouldn't do a rolly back without stalling. It's no wonder people aren't buying them.

Daewoo doesn't exist any longer & hasn't since around 2010. It's basically just GM Korea. They don't make the ZB anyway.

 

The ZB Commodore is a German Opel. I've driven several rentals & found them pretty good, especially the 230 kW V6, but even the 2.0 Turbos went well. Being turbo they need a bit of the rev, but they deliver 1901 kW & 350 Nm, so yours was probably running on 3 cylinders.

 

Dr Terry

[S pack]

Daewoo doesn't exist any longer & hasn't since around 2010. It's basically just GM Korea. They don't make the ZB anyway.

 

The ZB Commodore is a German Opel. I've driven several rentals & found them pretty good, especially the 230 kW V6, but even the 2.0 Turbos went well. Being turbo they need a bit of the rev, but they deliver 1901 kW & 350 Nm, so yours was probably running on 3 cylinders.

 

Dr Terry

1901kw, c'mon Dr Terry fess up. How much are they paying you for your comment?  

[rodomo]

Is this one of Rory's builds??

The Yellow V8 LC is also conspicuous by it's absence in recent years?

Great pics and thanks for sharing by the way

[Shiney005]

Daewoo doesn't exist any longer & hasn't since around 2010. It's basically just GM Korea. They don't make the ZB anyway.

Yeah, it was tongue in cheek. I will have to disagree on the merits of this car though. Give me a VF any day. 

[MONZA1]

Awesome pics Laurie.  Glad you enjoyed the event - was great to have the WA crew along.