PETER Brock’s win in the 1972 Hardie-Ferodo at Mount Panorama at the wheel of an XU-1 Torana remains a famous moment in Australian motorsport history that marks the first of his nine wins in the ‘Great Race’ at Bathurst.
But not many people recall though that he went back to racing an XU-1 Torana tribute car in the latter years of his career after he finished racing full-time.
That very Torana is one of the multitude of unique race and road cars part of the ‘UnReil Collection’ being auctioned by Lloyds Auctions this weekend.
The yellow Torana started its life as a Torana S with a 2800 six-cylinder engine in Glacier White/Chestnut vinyl trim.
The Torana is the first race car that James Brock built. With his Peter’s assistance, the two transformed the $1500 project car in the shed on Kiah Kerrabee, the Brock family property north of Melbourne.
James built the triple Weber carburetor-fed, 202 cubic-inch six-cylinder engine in the workshop of famed former Holden Dealer Team engine man Ian Tate, who worked on Peter’s crew when he first won at Bathurst in 1972.
The car was then painted ‘Silk Cut Purple’, a hue borrowed from the Le Mans racing Jaguars of the day, and the Brocks teamed up to compete in the car in Targa Tasmania in 1999, running as car #505 in the classic tarmac rally.
The campaign was very much a ‘toe-in-the-water’ exercise to gain a sense of the event with Peter as driver and James as navigator.
The Torana proved to be a very competitive car and one of the faster examples at the event, however Brock slipped on oil and crashed out while running strongly on the second last stage.
James later raced the Torana in historic touring car racing and it was later repainted yellow and ran in the Biante Historic Touring Car Series with Peter at the wheel.
He had his last circuit race in the car at Symmons Plains in Tasmania in November 2004.
This Torana is one of the last cars Brock raced on a circuit in Australia.
For more on the XU-1 Torana tribute, check out the video below:
