Group A: The Basics and the Big Names.
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LMR DarthMario
Richy59
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Re: Group A: The Basics and the Big Names.
I'm beginning to think the Top Gear Rally Report music should be used for our Group A Escapades if ever we race them in anger. Anyway here is the Calder Park circuit hosting the race immediately following the Bathurst 1000.
Maybe Sedona could be an acceptable venue to mimic this race perhaps?
Maybe Sedona could be an acceptable venue to mimic this race perhaps?
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Re: Group A: The Basics and the Big Names.
I love that video of the Calder Park race. One of my favourites.
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Re: Group A: The Basics and the Big Names.
god so this the track they based Sedona off of.
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Re: Group A: The Basics and the Big Names.
Here is that fantastic music used in the 80's Channel 7 telecasts
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Re: Group A: The Basics and the Big Names.
The complete "Jewelled" by Propaganda
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Re: Group A: The Basics and the Big Names.
Ok its decided, Jewelled by Propaganda it is, Australia covered the Spa 24 hours in 1986, back then it was for Group A rather than GT cars.
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Re: Group A: The Basics and the Big Names.
i would very much like to see Calder Park make it into FM4...
LMR DarthMario-
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Re: Group A: The Basics and the Big Names.
I think I posted a video of the old Brno in my Group A thread. Some great footage from that
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Re: Group A: The Basics and the Big Names.
Dick Johnson's Group C Glory.
(Something I've been meaning to complete, although it has been a while)
For Australians, the premier national motorsports championship, the V8 Supercars, it is a case of Red Vs. Blue, as it is with most of the sporting world, past or present, Porsche vs. Ferrari, Audi Vs. Peugeot, Federer Vs. Nadal, Liverpool Vs. Everton, Red Vs. Blue, no matter how you react to it, you will eventually and subconcously prefer one side from the other.
The Majority of Australians are no doubt on the side of the "Reds", a.k.a. Holden, and primarily Peter Brock is their idol, its arguable that Brock may be a National treasure, but as we've seen from Brocks Group C trials and tribulations, there was a rival taking some (if not all) of the glory.
Holden had Brock in their "Red" clan. Ford's Blue had Dick Johnson.
DJ B4 Group A
In Australia's "Group C" Regulation Touring Car championships, Johnson spent the first half of the 1970s driving a Holden with little success, he would switch to a Ford running team for the remaining part of the decade at the wrong end of the pack, a crash in the 1980 edition of the Bathurst 1000 when a large rock was "thrown from the crowd" while Johnson (in a car he built and ran himself) was leading, and via Channel 7s exceptional TV coverage, an Emotional Dick Johnson was able to fund the rebuilding of the car via donations from a sympathetic percentage of the motorsport public. He would win Bathurst and the Touring Car championship on several occasions following the incident with the rock, including the final season in 1984, before the Group A regs kicked in.
Arrival of Group A
Much like the rule changes for F1 at the start of the 2009 season, most of the regular front runners were caught out of sync with those that were "prepared", Indeed in the case of Peter Brock and Dick Johnson, who were the "default" driver for both Holden (Commodoore) and Ford (Mustang) respectively, throughout the season the two figureheads would be outpaced by BMW's Jim Richards, Johnson may have won one of the 10 rounds in the 1985 ATCC season, but Richards won 7.
Sticking by his stallion for '86
DJ was to have a poor 1986 season, compared to the run of success he had in the old regs' touring cars, this was also the year that Ford had launched the Sierra, and was considered the new flagship vehicle for this motor company, Johnson was reluctant to convert, and with good reason, the Sierra XR4 was "Group A" alright, but it was nowhere near competitive, the fans were unimpressed. Scraping into the top 6 was not good enough for the boys in blue, Volvo and Nissan would be seen winning races in the championship, and a Holden on the top step of the podium at Bathurst. Now was the time to change.
1987 - A Red Dawn
Ford's Sierra would soon be a powerhouse in Group A, Rudi Eggenberger making the best example of Cosworth's improvement-hammering of the race-going Sierra, Dick Johnson would unearth a spectacular sponsorship deal with Shell to adorn his now-red machine, but the first-year reliability issues were commonplace for DJ, a win in mid season was scant reward. He would win the non-championship support to the F1 race around Adelaide at the end of the Season.
1988 - Red Phoenix
With 1987 out of sight and out of mind, 1988 was to begin an utterly dominant stretch for Johnson compared to the first half of his Group A trial, was rarely outside the top 3 in finishes and only one retirement in the Touring car championship, team-mate John Bowe would finish second in the standings, clearly a dominant year for DJR, but a Bathurst win in his Sierra was yet tobe delivered, finishing 2nd in the 1988 edition of the great race, a lap down, behind another Sierra driven by Tony Longhurst and Tomas Mezera. This was also the year that DJ took his Sierra to Silverstone to compete in the 1988 Tourist Trophy, part of the final European Touring Car Championship (before its revival), Breaking the touring car lap record around the 1987-1990 layout of silverstone (1.35.49), however it's adventure in the 500km race was to be cut short with a third of the race to go, a water pump failiure.
1989 - Weapon of Choice
The Ford Sierra had now reached its peak, it was the best car to be seen in at the front of the touring car field, not just in Australia, not just in Europe, where steps were being made (especially in the DTM) to strangle the Sierra's of their horse-power, or even the UK, indeed some of Dick Johnson's handywork would make it's way to Great Britain in the hands of Rob Gravett and TV's Mike Smith to compete against the Brits' own great engineer-driver Andy Rouse.
In Australia, Dick Johnson would clearly stick with what was working for him, even Peter Brock, the darling of the Holden crowd (although they wouldn't call him that, not at the time anyway), would have to resort to running the Ford Sierra just to stay close to the front.
Nissan however, having their hand in the touring car game since 1987, would bring a piece of machinery to the front of the field, a competitive (but not yet dominant) HR31 GT-R in the capable hands of Aussie Group-A regular Jim Richards, a veteran George Fury, and newcomer Mark Skaife.
The Sierra with its turbocharged engine would keep its hand on the title with yet another championship 1-2 for Dick Johnson and John Bowe, never failing to finish a championship race that season, its poorest result was around a (then-)twisty Winton Motor Raceway where the Nissan Works entry would show its hand, but not in the biggest possible way (they would reveal their winning cards the following year).
Dick Johnson and John Bowe would finally win the Bathurst 1000 in 1989, and to further highlight the domination that the Sierra was able to make for itself, the only other team able to finish on the same lap as the leaders was another Sierra driven by Klaus Niedzwiedtz and Frank Biela.
1990 - There to be shot down
This is the year where competition would become fierce, with the opposition seeing the Sierra as the vehicle to beat, Nissan would want to steal their thunder. Nissan were developing a car that would be the "cricket bat" to the Sierra "ball". BMW would introduce a more powerful version of the M3 (the same one that ran gracefully in the DTM), Holden were also trying to pump out the best Commodoore they could, Tom Walkinshaw's works team were running as best they could, but were still unable to topple the imports the rest of the world threw to Australia, the nation's "own" company could not win, therefore the interest would slump. For the Sierra elsewhere, the BTCC would soon abandon the most powerful Group A touring car the regulations inadvertantly produced, the DTM would ban the car from being run in their championship.
Nissan revealed their R32 based GT-R halfway though the season, at Mallala, a mix of hairpins and short straights, the excellent handling and awesome accelleration of the Nissan "Godzilla" would trounce the opposition, the Sierra was no longer the dominant species. Johnson was unable to defend the title, Jim Richards had the car to claim it, Peter Brock and Colin Bond were able to win just as many races that year in similar machinery to Johnson.
For the 1990 edition of Bathurst, it was Holden's year, but by no means bouncing back, British Touring Car legend Win Percy and counterpart Allan Grice were to give Tom Walkinshaw's HRT outfit their first win (of many) on the mountain (but not in Group A).
1991 - The Beginning of the End
The Group A formula was beginning to crumble, The British Touring Car championship was to begin a single-class 2-litre "Supertouring" series, the DTM had implanted a forumla which would also implode 5 years into the future, the only other place to see the likes of Ford Sierras and Nissan GT-Rs would be the Spa 24 Hours, and the Japanese Touring car Championship.
Australia was getting bored, mainly because of Holden's lack of success, even more so down to the lack of entries, well "what's the point when the GT-R is always infront", not nessasarily the case when the BMW M3 was also getting race wins, Ford however would not get a single win in 1991, Dick Johnson's best finish was a 4th place at the start of the season, but the year would get progressively worse. The Sierra had its day, it also had it's day around the Mount Panorama circuit, the Nissan GT-R was utterly dominant, Jim Richards and Mark Skaife the drivers of the R32 GT-R were the only drivers on the lead lap, the highest finishing Ford Sierra was 5th, but not one of the regular teams, 6 laps behind the leader.
1992 - ...and in the end...
The Ford Sierra was in its final year in Australia, and with the domination from the "foreign" competitors in the form of BMW and Nissan (bear in mind the Sierra was not a "natural" Ford Australia car), and with influence from the equally unsuccesful Holden teams of 1991, the Confederation of Australian Motorsport had to make the nessasary changes to at least give Holden and Ford that little bit extra to be at the front of the field.
The BMW M3 would have 60kgs of weight added to stop the light 340hp cars from hogging the sweeps and straights.
Nissan's supreme being the R32 would be shackeld with the biggest handicap, a turbo pop-off valve and an air intake reduction. They weren't given a weight handicap until halfway through the season when CAMS realised the 4 cylinder strangulation wasnt enough.
Ford and indeed Johnson would win races once more around the circuits which demanded the best top speed (Sandown, Symmonds, Eastern Creek) but Nissan still dominated on the tight and twisty circuits (Winton, Mallala and Oran Park).
Nissan would win the title yet again, Mark Skaife winning his first of many titles. Bathurst also fell to the Japanese, but under some contention from Dick Johnson , who also broke the (then) fastest qualifying time, not the most fitting farewell to a Sierra, overshadowed by a black day on the mountain.
The Sierra would get a final swansong in an F1 Support race around Adelaide's parklands, however the Nissan would still have the last laugh.
Dick Johnson would resort to a V8 Based Ford Falcon for 1993, as would every other Ford runner of the era, in the same way every Holden runner would opt for a V8 Holden Commodoore, and aside from the special dispensation given to BMW to run in the 1993 Australian Touring Car Championship, Group A in Australia was no more.
And this post would not be complete without a video appendix:
1985 and 1986 were the "tough" years behind the wheel of the Mustang
Silverstone 1988, the Tourist Trophy.
Winning the 1989 Bathurst 1000
Lap of Wellington's Streets in 1990
Highlighting the difficulties Ford had to deal with in 1991
(Something I've been meaning to complete, although it has been a while)
For Australians, the premier national motorsports championship, the V8 Supercars, it is a case of Red Vs. Blue, as it is with most of the sporting world, past or present, Porsche vs. Ferrari, Audi Vs. Peugeot, Federer Vs. Nadal, Liverpool Vs. Everton, Red Vs. Blue, no matter how you react to it, you will eventually and subconcously prefer one side from the other.
The Majority of Australians are no doubt on the side of the "Reds", a.k.a. Holden, and primarily Peter Brock is their idol, its arguable that Brock may be a National treasure, but as we've seen from Brocks Group C trials and tribulations, there was a rival taking some (if not all) of the glory.
Holden had Brock in their "Red" clan. Ford's Blue had Dick Johnson.
DJ B4 Group A
In Australia's "Group C" Regulation Touring Car championships, Johnson spent the first half of the 1970s driving a Holden with little success, he would switch to a Ford running team for the remaining part of the decade at the wrong end of the pack, a crash in the 1980 edition of the Bathurst 1000 when a large rock was "thrown from the crowd" while Johnson (in a car he built and ran himself) was leading, and via Channel 7s exceptional TV coverage, an Emotional Dick Johnson was able to fund the rebuilding of the car via donations from a sympathetic percentage of the motorsport public. He would win Bathurst and the Touring Car championship on several occasions following the incident with the rock, including the final season in 1984, before the Group A regs kicked in.
Arrival of Group A
Much like the rule changes for F1 at the start of the 2009 season, most of the regular front runners were caught out of sync with those that were "prepared", Indeed in the case of Peter Brock and Dick Johnson, who were the "default" driver for both Holden (Commodoore) and Ford (Mustang) respectively, throughout the season the two figureheads would be outpaced by BMW's Jim Richards, Johnson may have won one of the 10 rounds in the 1985 ATCC season, but Richards won 7.
Sticking by his stallion for '86
DJ was to have a poor 1986 season, compared to the run of success he had in the old regs' touring cars, this was also the year that Ford had launched the Sierra, and was considered the new flagship vehicle for this motor company, Johnson was reluctant to convert, and with good reason, the Sierra XR4 was "Group A" alright, but it was nowhere near competitive, the fans were unimpressed. Scraping into the top 6 was not good enough for the boys in blue, Volvo and Nissan would be seen winning races in the championship, and a Holden on the top step of the podium at Bathurst. Now was the time to change.
1987 - A Red Dawn
Ford's Sierra would soon be a powerhouse in Group A, Rudi Eggenberger making the best example of Cosworth's improvement-hammering of the race-going Sierra, Dick Johnson would unearth a spectacular sponsorship deal with Shell to adorn his now-red machine, but the first-year reliability issues were commonplace for DJ, a win in mid season was scant reward. He would win the non-championship support to the F1 race around Adelaide at the end of the Season.
1988 - Red Phoenix
With 1987 out of sight and out of mind, 1988 was to begin an utterly dominant stretch for Johnson compared to the first half of his Group A trial, was rarely outside the top 3 in finishes and only one retirement in the Touring car championship, team-mate John Bowe would finish second in the standings, clearly a dominant year for DJR, but a Bathurst win in his Sierra was yet tobe delivered, finishing 2nd in the 1988 edition of the great race, a lap down, behind another Sierra driven by Tony Longhurst and Tomas Mezera. This was also the year that DJ took his Sierra to Silverstone to compete in the 1988 Tourist Trophy, part of the final European Touring Car Championship (before its revival), Breaking the touring car lap record around the 1987-1990 layout of silverstone (1.35.49), however it's adventure in the 500km race was to be cut short with a third of the race to go, a water pump failiure.
1989 - Weapon of Choice
The Ford Sierra had now reached its peak, it was the best car to be seen in at the front of the touring car field, not just in Australia, not just in Europe, where steps were being made (especially in the DTM) to strangle the Sierra's of their horse-power, or even the UK, indeed some of Dick Johnson's handywork would make it's way to Great Britain in the hands of Rob Gravett and TV's Mike Smith to compete against the Brits' own great engineer-driver Andy Rouse.
In Australia, Dick Johnson would clearly stick with what was working for him, even Peter Brock, the darling of the Holden crowd (although they wouldn't call him that, not at the time anyway), would have to resort to running the Ford Sierra just to stay close to the front.
Nissan however, having their hand in the touring car game since 1987, would bring a piece of machinery to the front of the field, a competitive (but not yet dominant) HR31 GT-R in the capable hands of Aussie Group-A regular Jim Richards, a veteran George Fury, and newcomer Mark Skaife.
The Sierra with its turbocharged engine would keep its hand on the title with yet another championship 1-2 for Dick Johnson and John Bowe, never failing to finish a championship race that season, its poorest result was around a (then-)twisty Winton Motor Raceway where the Nissan Works entry would show its hand, but not in the biggest possible way (they would reveal their winning cards the following year).
Dick Johnson and John Bowe would finally win the Bathurst 1000 in 1989, and to further highlight the domination that the Sierra was able to make for itself, the only other team able to finish on the same lap as the leaders was another Sierra driven by Klaus Niedzwiedtz and Frank Biela.
1990 - There to be shot down
This is the year where competition would become fierce, with the opposition seeing the Sierra as the vehicle to beat, Nissan would want to steal their thunder. Nissan were developing a car that would be the "cricket bat" to the Sierra "ball". BMW would introduce a more powerful version of the M3 (the same one that ran gracefully in the DTM), Holden were also trying to pump out the best Commodoore they could, Tom Walkinshaw's works team were running as best they could, but were still unable to topple the imports the rest of the world threw to Australia, the nation's "own" company could not win, therefore the interest would slump. For the Sierra elsewhere, the BTCC would soon abandon the most powerful Group A touring car the regulations inadvertantly produced, the DTM would ban the car from being run in their championship.
Nissan revealed their R32 based GT-R halfway though the season, at Mallala, a mix of hairpins and short straights, the excellent handling and awesome accelleration of the Nissan "Godzilla" would trounce the opposition, the Sierra was no longer the dominant species. Johnson was unable to defend the title, Jim Richards had the car to claim it, Peter Brock and Colin Bond were able to win just as many races that year in similar machinery to Johnson.
For the 1990 edition of Bathurst, it was Holden's year, but by no means bouncing back, British Touring Car legend Win Percy and counterpart Allan Grice were to give Tom Walkinshaw's HRT outfit their first win (of many) on the mountain (but not in Group A).
1991 - The Beginning of the End
The Group A formula was beginning to crumble, The British Touring Car championship was to begin a single-class 2-litre "Supertouring" series, the DTM had implanted a forumla which would also implode 5 years into the future, the only other place to see the likes of Ford Sierras and Nissan GT-Rs would be the Spa 24 Hours, and the Japanese Touring car Championship.
Australia was getting bored, mainly because of Holden's lack of success, even more so down to the lack of entries, well "what's the point when the GT-R is always infront", not nessasarily the case when the BMW M3 was also getting race wins, Ford however would not get a single win in 1991, Dick Johnson's best finish was a 4th place at the start of the season, but the year would get progressively worse. The Sierra had its day, it also had it's day around the Mount Panorama circuit, the Nissan GT-R was utterly dominant, Jim Richards and Mark Skaife the drivers of the R32 GT-R were the only drivers on the lead lap, the highest finishing Ford Sierra was 5th, but not one of the regular teams, 6 laps behind the leader.
1992 - ...and in the end...
The Ford Sierra was in its final year in Australia, and with the domination from the "foreign" competitors in the form of BMW and Nissan (bear in mind the Sierra was not a "natural" Ford Australia car), and with influence from the equally unsuccesful Holden teams of 1991, the Confederation of Australian Motorsport had to make the nessasary changes to at least give Holden and Ford that little bit extra to be at the front of the field.
The BMW M3 would have 60kgs of weight added to stop the light 340hp cars from hogging the sweeps and straights.
Nissan's supreme being the R32 would be shackeld with the biggest handicap, a turbo pop-off valve and an air intake reduction. They weren't given a weight handicap until halfway through the season when CAMS realised the 4 cylinder strangulation wasnt enough.
Ford and indeed Johnson would win races once more around the circuits which demanded the best top speed (Sandown, Symmonds, Eastern Creek) but Nissan still dominated on the tight and twisty circuits (Winton, Mallala and Oran Park).
Nissan would win the title yet again, Mark Skaife winning his first of many titles. Bathurst also fell to the Japanese, but under some contention from Dick Johnson , who also broke the (then) fastest qualifying time, not the most fitting farewell to a Sierra, overshadowed by a black day on the mountain.
The Sierra would get a final swansong in an F1 Support race around Adelaide's parklands, however the Nissan would still have the last laugh.
Dick Johnson would resort to a V8 Based Ford Falcon for 1993, as would every other Ford runner of the era, in the same way every Holden runner would opt for a V8 Holden Commodoore, and aside from the special dispensation given to BMW to run in the 1993 Australian Touring Car Championship, Group A in Australia was no more.
And this post would not be complete without a video appendix:
1985 and 1986 were the "tough" years behind the wheel of the Mustang
Silverstone 1988, the Tourist Trophy.
Winning the 1989 Bathurst 1000
Lap of Wellington's Streets in 1990
Highlighting the difficulties Ford had to deal with in 1991
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Re: Group A: The Basics and the Big Names.
Two Reasons to bump.
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Re: Group A: The Basics and the Big Names.
What a gem of a thread!
nickyf1- TORA Race Number : 271
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Re: Group A: The Basics and the Big Names.
great racing of the past... you cannot go wrong
LMR DarthMario-
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Re: Group A: The Basics and the Big Names.
Long races, clean racing, no stupid reverse grids, no stupid success ballast (unless you drove an R32), amazing circuits (Brno, Spa and Nurburgring in my mind here). The drivers had respect, and the people came to watch. It's been broken now, and the fans have forgotten, and the cars are piles of shyte.
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Re: Group A: The Basics and the Big Names.
Ford V Nissan around the LONG Sandown layout.
Says it all...
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