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GRAND-AM
V8: Bathurst Countdown: 9 Greatest Cars
SPEED looked at the hundreds of vehicles to compete in Australia's "Great Race" and narrowed it down to just nine of the best.
Godzilla ... The Nissan GT-R completed the fastest 1000km time around Bathurst until 2010. (Courtesy of SPEED.com.au)
Mount Panorama, Bathurst is a place where legends are born, a place for icons, heroes and champions. There are few legends greater than Peter Brock, who gifted us with two iconic numbers, 05 and nine. It's for his memory that SPEED has produced these nine, top-nine countdowns.
The first of our series looks at the cars.
While people like Peter Brock and Allan Moffat are household names Down Under, the cars they piloted around the most famous circuit in Australian motorsport have also become icons in their own right.
SPEED looked at the hundreds of vehicles to compete in the "Great Race" and narrowed it down to just nine of the best.
Of course Holden, Ford and even those of you left of centre in the Valiant or Nissan fan clubs will have different opinions. So feel free to let us know your favourite with a comment at the footer of this page.
Holden LX Torana A9X SS
While its debut in 1977 will be remembered as the day Allan Moffat led a ‘form finish’ for the XC Ford Falcon, the might of the much smaller A9X was noticeable that year. Peter Brock had in fact put his privateer A9X on pole and at times looked like taking victory. It wasn’t to be that day but in the next two Bathurst 1000s, the A9X carved up every other make and model on the mountain.
In 1979, Brock and co-driver Jim Richards won the race by an amazing six laps. Brock even broke the lap record on the last lap, just because he could. A9X drivers also filled the next seven positions that year. Brock debuted the Commodore the next year and in qualifying it was over a second slower than the A9X, showing what a brilliant machine the much lighter Torana was.
Nissan GT-R
V8 purists don’t like to admit it, but the Nissan GT-R which won at Bathurst in 1991 and 1992 was easily the best race car ever seen in the 1000 at that point. With turbochargers, all-wheel drive, all-wheel steer and state of the art engine management system, the Nissans compared to the Holdens and Fords was like using a calculator instead of an abacus. In 1991 Mark Skaife’s pole time was a whole 2.2 seconds quicker than the next non-Nissan.
Their race time of 6 hours and 19 minutes wasn't beaten until 2011, ironically by Skaife and Craig Lowndes. The Ford Sierra put a bit of ground on the GT-R in terms of pace in 1992, but Skaife and Jim Richards won that race all but controversially.
The V8-loving crowd didn’t like that too much, prompting Richards to call them a “pack of a**holes”. Right now many of you are probably feeling a sense of outrage at the Nissan’s rank in this list, but even the most biased V8 fan has to admit that ‘Godzilla’ was one amazing machine.
VT-VZ Commodore
Firstly we’ve put the VT, VX, VY and VZ Commodores in the same category because apart from a few fenders they are essentially the same car (although today’s V8 Supercar shares little with the road car anyway). The years between 1999 and 2005 was a dark and gloomy time for Ford fans making their annual visit to the mountain. The third generation Commodore won seven straight at Bathurst.
Was it the gods punishing Ford for producing one of the ugliest cars in Australian motoring history in the AU Falcon? Or was it just Holden were on top of their game? Either way Holden’s domination over Ford could be summarised beautifully by one simple piece of commentary by the late great Barry Sheene during one of the races, it was “Falcon unbelievable”.
Ford Sierra RS500
When the Falcon was made V8-less in the late 80s and rules changed from Group C to Group A, Ford went overseas to find something capable of beating the Holdens and BMWs. Enter the pocket-rocket Ford Sierra.
With a turbocharged four cylinder engine in a 1200kg hatchback, they were incredibly quick around the mountain. In their debut year in 1987, Sierras filled the first five spots on the grid.
The Sierra came first and second in the race but was famously disqualified some months later for illegal front fenders (originally they were being investigated for illegal fuel). Peter Brock who finished third and that was to be his last ever Bathurst 1000 victory.
But the Sierra returned the next year – and in legal specifications – and dominated the race. Then they did it again in 1989. Demonstrating the speed advantage of the Sierra, the time difference in qualifying between them and any other type of car in its three years on the mountain was three to four seconds.
The first of our series looks at the cars.
While people like Peter Brock and Allan Moffat are household names Down Under, the cars they piloted around the most famous circuit in Australian motorsport have also become icons in their own right.
SPEED looked at the hundreds of vehicles to compete in the "Great Race" and narrowed it down to just nine of the best.
Of course Holden, Ford and even those of you left of centre in the Valiant or Nissan fan clubs will have different opinions. So feel free to let us know your favourite with a comment at the footer of this page.
Holden LX Torana A9X SS
While its debut in 1977 will be remembered as the day Allan Moffat led a ‘form finish’ for the XC Ford Falcon, the might of the much smaller A9X was noticeable that year. Peter Brock had in fact put his privateer A9X on pole and at times looked like taking victory. It wasn’t to be that day but in the next two Bathurst 1000s, the A9X carved up every other make and model on the mountain.
In 1979, Brock and co-driver Jim Richards won the race by an amazing six laps. Brock even broke the lap record on the last lap, just because he could. A9X drivers also filled the next seven positions that year. Brock debuted the Commodore the next year and in qualifying it was over a second slower than the A9X, showing what a brilliant machine the much lighter Torana was.
Nissan GT-R
V8 purists don’t like to admit it, but the Nissan GT-R which won at Bathurst in 1991 and 1992 was easily the best race car ever seen in the 1000 at that point. With turbochargers, all-wheel drive, all-wheel steer and state of the art engine management system, the Nissans compared to the Holdens and Fords was like using a calculator instead of an abacus. In 1991 Mark Skaife’s pole time was a whole 2.2 seconds quicker than the next non-Nissan.
Their race time of 6 hours and 19 minutes wasn't beaten until 2011, ironically by Skaife and Craig Lowndes. The Ford Sierra put a bit of ground on the GT-R in terms of pace in 1992, but Skaife and Jim Richards won that race all but controversially.
The V8-loving crowd didn’t like that too much, prompting Richards to call them a “pack of a**holes”. Right now many of you are probably feeling a sense of outrage at the Nissan’s rank in this list, but even the most biased V8 fan has to admit that ‘Godzilla’ was one amazing machine.
VT-VZ Commodore
Firstly we’ve put the VT, VX, VY and VZ Commodores in the same category because apart from a few fenders they are essentially the same car (although today’s V8 Supercar shares little with the road car anyway). The years between 1999 and 2005 was a dark and gloomy time for Ford fans making their annual visit to the mountain. The third generation Commodore won seven straight at Bathurst.
Was it the gods punishing Ford for producing one of the ugliest cars in Australian motoring history in the AU Falcon? Or was it just Holden were on top of their game? Either way Holden’s domination over Ford could be summarised beautifully by one simple piece of commentary by the late great Barry Sheene during one of the races, it was “Falcon unbelievable”.
Ford Sierra RS500
When the Falcon was made V8-less in the late 80s and rules changed from Group C to Group A, Ford went overseas to find something capable of beating the Holdens and BMWs. Enter the pocket-rocket Ford Sierra.
With a turbocharged four cylinder engine in a 1200kg hatchback, they were incredibly quick around the mountain. In their debut year in 1987, Sierras filled the first five spots on the grid.
The Sierra came first and second in the race but was famously disqualified some months later for illegal front fenders (originally they were being investigated for illegal fuel). Peter Brock who finished third and that was to be his last ever Bathurst 1000 victory.
But the Sierra returned the next year – and in legal specifications – and dominated the race. Then they did it again in 1989. Demonstrating the speed advantage of the Sierra, the time difference in qualifying between them and any other type of car in its three years on the mountain was three to four seconds.
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