THE first car to twice conquer the Great Race has made a grand return to Bathurst.
The restored Holden VH Commodore which won the 1982 and 1983 editions of the Bathurst 1000 was unveiled today at Brock’s Skyline atop Mount Panorama.
It’s the famous vehicle which powered Peter Brock and Larry Perkins to the 1982 victory, and which that duo shifted into mid-race the following year.
The #05 from 1982 became John Harvey and Phil Brock’s #25 for the ’83 Great Race, only for Perkins and Peter Brock to swap into the Harvey-started car (as was then allowed) after suffering a blown engine.
Before its recent restoration, the car had long been presented in its 1982 colours atop the 1983-specification body kit.
Its visit to the Mountain today comes ahead of an appearance in the PremiAir Hire Bathurst winners’ category at the Repco Adelaide Motorsport Festival on March 16-17.
“Only a couple of days after Peter Brock’s birthday, we were lucky enough to see the return of a very special car to Mount Panorama this afternoon, with the post-restoration unveiling of the 1982/1983 Bathurst 1000-winning VH Commodore at Brock’s Skyline!” read a social media update from the National Motor Racing Museum.
“One of only three cars to win the Great Race on two occasions, this amazing car has been painstakingly returned back to the livery and configuration that it ran in 1982, and will soon be returning to the National Motor Racing Museum for display, after being on show at the Adelaide Motorsport Festival in March.
“Thanks to Chad Parrish and all of the team that brought the car back ‘home’ to the Mount today, and we can’t wait to see it return to the Museum in a few weeks’ time.”
