THE Castrol Commodore VY driven by Larry Perkins in his last Bathurst 1000 start in 2003 is heading to New Zealand and will be one of an ever-growing number of attractions at New Zealand’s Historic GP at Taupō International Motorsport Park on January 19-21.
The Perkins Engineering-built Holden was driven by Perkins and Steve Richards in the 2003 Bathurst 1000 and finished fourth.
The very same chassis later became Larry’s son Jack’s first Bathurst 1000 car in 2006, in Jack Daniel’s livery and in VZ specification.
It will be driven in New Zealand at the Historic GP by five-time Bathurst 1000 winner Steve Richards.
Restored in recent years to its 2003 Castrol livery and specification, the car is now part of the Muscle Car Warehouse collection.
The car – chassis PE 041 – features among V8 Sleuth’s book documenting the history of every Perkins Engineering Commodore, available here in the V8 Sleuth Superstore.
The ex-Perkins Commodore joins a range of historically-significant Holdens heading to the event.
It was recently confirmed that Jack Perkins will demonstrate the 1993 Bathurst 1000-winning Castrol Commodore VP and four-time Bathurst 1000 winner Greg Murphy will take the wheel of the Garry Rogers Motorsport-built Monaro he drove to victory in the 2003 Bathurst 24 Hour alongside Peter Brock, Todd Kelly and Jason Bright.
Seven-time Bathurst 1000 winner Craig Lowndes will also be appearing at the event.
V8 Sleuth is the official media partner for the event that will be held on January 19-21 in 2024 at the Taupō International Motorsport Park and broadcast live on Sky Sport in New Zealand and Fox Sports in Australia.
The Taupō Historic GP is the second round of the Super Sprint MotorSport NZ Championship and will host the opening round of the Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship (CTFROC) as part of a unique modern/historic flavoured race meeting.
The event is also a unique celebration of Trans-Tasman Holden history and will feature a ‘Holden All-Comers’ race open to all Holden race cars with a homologated roll cage and logbook.
Also set to appear are Historic Touring Cars NZ, Historic Sports Sedans, Historic Saloons, Sports and GTs, Formula 5000, Formula Open NZ and Formula Junior/F3/Historic Formula Ford.
