THIS Peter Jackson Racing Falcon EF may carry Glenn Seton’s familiar #30 racing number and his name on its rear windows, however its notable performances at Bathurst came in a different spec and with a different driver/number combination.
A modern V8 classic car, it was recently on display during Repco Bathurst 1000 race week at the National Motor Racing Museum and drew plenty of attention from museum visitors and guests at our V8 Sleuth Open Night with special guest Larry Perkins.
Plenty of fans quickly surmised the car on display was in fact the very car that Seton famously had fail on him while leading the 1995 Tooheys 1000 at Bathurst with just nine laps to go.
However, as was mentioned at the V8 Sleuth Open Night, this particular PJ Falcon is in fact the very same car that chased Perkins home to the line with the #35 on its doors driven by Alan Jones, who ended up finishing second in that race with co-driver Allan Grice after Seton’s #30 had suffered engine failure.
The started its life as an EB Falcon in Seton’s hands in 1994 and made its racing debut at Bathurst by taking pole position for the ‘Great Race’. However a misfire took Seton and co-driver Paul Radisich out of the running.
By the way, all of the Glenn Seton Racing cars – including the Peter Jackson Falcons – have their histories published in Glenn’s book, ‘Seto: The Official Racing History of Glenn Seton’, available here now in the V8 Sleuth Superstore.
The car – chassis GSR5 – was updated to EF specification for early 1995 and appeared as Seton’s #30 car (the same markings it is now in today) for the season-opening Winfield Triple Challenge.
That particular event was the only time this car ran as a #30 Seton PJ Falcon as it was later turned over to become teammate Jones’ #35 car that later caught fire at Lakeside in Queensland.
He and David ‘Skippy’ Parsons drove it at the Sandown 500 and were due to again race together at Bathurst until team owner Seton made a swap and placed Parsons with him and moved Grice to co-drive with Jones.
The Jones/Grice duo finished second in the final time that the Peter Jackson brand competed at Bathurst (tobacco advertising was banned from Australian motorsport) and it reverted to becoming Seton’s #30 car in Bridgestone colours for the Peter Brock Classic at Calder.
The car was taken by Seton’s father Barry in the wake of their split in the team and was sold to Tasmanian privateer Ray Hislop, who raced it in V8 Supercar events in 1997 and 1998, including at Bathurst with co-driver Tim Briggs.
The PJ Falcon only recently spent a short amount of time on display at the National Motor Racing Museum, however, is set to return to the Mountain very soon with its owner set to be behind its wheel to turn laps at Challenge Bathurst in November.
