Skip to 1:58:00 for the Alfa Romeo Series! Then go back to the start and watch the Touring Cars!
Great racing!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl8ZU-KqKIA
Awesome vid. Tony Longhurst drifting the Sud like a boss before it was even a thing!
Thanks Chode, that was cool!
Joe Bennica's Sud seemed to be a series 2 Sud with the small tail lights, all the others were driving series 3 Suds, Joe Bennica didn't have much sponsorship on his car, Allan Grice's Sud was prepared by Rod Makepeace at Alfa City, with sponsorship from Ignis fridges and Ruggolo Body works, Tony Longhurst Sud had Ignis sponsorship with a bit of help from his dad, who owned dreamworld at the time.
To all you kids out there, it was a time when dinosaurs walked the earth and Alfa Romeo was involved in Motor Racing, i was watching a doco on the 1980 Formula 1 championship and Alfa Romeo were in it with their own team with a V-12 atmospheric engine and drivers Italian, Bruno [the panda] Giacomelli and Frenchman Patrick Depaier, Sponsorship was from Marlboro in Italy and seen talking to the drivers was Alfa Romeo legend, Dr. Carlo Chiti, this was 1980, before the Fiat takeover in 1986.
Throughout the Sud race, they were talking about the first prize for the winner was a new Alfa Romeo 33, valued at $16,000, the winner of the series Allan Grice won the 33 and promptly sold it the next day to finance his next racing car, he later went on to win Bathurst in 1986 in a Chickadee Commodore and in 1990 in a HRT, VL Commodore, Grice first drove at Bathurst in a Fiat in the late 60's.
Dick Johnston, then a fresh faced Queenslander, was driving a John French prepared Alfasud, John French was Dick Johnstons co driver in various Falcons for years.
I think i can see in the background my brothers old twin carb Sud misfiring its way around the track being driven by western district farmer Robert Murch.
The commentater and Australian pie eating champion is Mike Raymond, one of the worst motor sport commentators of all time, so much better now with Neil Crompton, Mark Skaife and Mark Larkham, Colin.
Great video thanks Mick! There's a section in that video of Dick Johnson interviewing everyone about their plans for the upcoming 1985 switch to Group A. No-one would tell him anything of course, all hush hush, very amusing.
The Suds looked great, not a lot of mods presumably and radial tyres on steel rims. The finish was quite controversial huh?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Z-lL1j1v7Y
That's great! What a sore loser!
It's racing!
Very funny,all that sideways action. Love the old touring cars. thanks.
The group A Touring car series, 85-92 was the best Touring cars, standard cars, hotted up, with steel bodies standard engine blocks and minimal downforce, and many makes competing with 4, 6, 8, and 12 cylinders with atmo and turbo, with weights and tyre widths keeping them all reasonably even, Colin.
so what went wrong? :'( :'(
Quote from: mad dog 75 on June 09, 2014, 11:05:58 PM
so what went wrong? :'( :'(
Yobbo's.......Pushrod fools.....
with weights and tyre widths keeping them all reasonably even, Colin.
Jesus Christ that's stretching it don't you think!!!
Yobbo's.......Pushrod fools..... the joke is on you spiderman, you obviously have never been to Bathurst.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIphvgve4NI
almost as good as it gets for the brilliant little GTV6,
Bondy blew the Amaroo track record to the shit house in a standard GTV6 but that was in group E production. What ever happened to group E? oh that's right Cams f#%ked it up as well, but they didn't stop there.... lets ban turbos, lets ban rear wheel drive, lets ban V8's, lets ban hot pies at the football, lets change the rules every second week. CAMS you are a bunch of F#%king dickheads.
When Group A started in the early 80's, it was so different manufacturers with different configerations could compete evenly with each other and that worked.....until the Ford Sierra came along with a 500 hp motor by Cosworth and blew them into the weeds, then Nissan read the rule book and produced the ultimate racecar, with 1,000 hp and 4 wheel drive and won everything.
Then the local racers in their 2 wheel drive, 2 valve per cylinder pushrod dinasaurs started moaning to Mike Raymond, that it wasn't fair, so Mike Raymond, had the rules fiddled, so that the Nissan's had less boost, down from 1,000 hp in Qualy to 600 hp in a race, finally Raymond changed the rules, as he put it, 'banning turbo's, like in Formula 1', then it went to Ford versus General Motors, with 2 wheel drive 2 valve pushrod motors, but Raymond said they had modern technoligy, with wait for it Fuel injection and a Six Speed Gearbox!, [that was made by Holinger Engineering].
This formula was a huge success, because the knuckle draggers would be able to see their favourite cars win races and not be blown into the weeds, by Japcrap.
It was a hugh success, not because of the cars, but the television station changed from Footycentral channel 7 to channel 10, which, [unlike 7], put it on live.
If you had a Touring Car Entrants Licence at the start, it was worth about $1.50, nowdays they change hands for about a million dollars each, Colin.
What a drive by Joe - great footage Col! Grice had just returned from Europe and apparently brought back in his suitcase the rear 'nudge' with him!
What racing - to see car's on radials so sideways and then pulled back into line is dinosaur stuff but so entertaining. Longhurst seems to be able to get the rear of his car out further than all others - suspect he had fitted Cortina 6C rear springs (as a few cheaters did in that series).
Col, was Steve's car the only TiQV running?
Paul
Paul, i don't know if Steves ex Sud was the only twin carb running there, i suspect there were other as well, the Alfa Dealers were quite keen to promote the Sud as it was Alfa Romeo's most succesfull model selling about 950,000?? cars over 12 years production, Colin.
Colcol, your brothers sud was actually owned by my father. He is still farming on the same property and is turning 70 next year. I remember attending the odd race, I was about six years old. Also took the odd trip to school in the sud when the family car conked out (alfetta sedan). Not very legal but it was pretty cool rocking up in the race car! Glad and amazed to hear it is still running. Dad struggled in the series, and probably lacked the finance and time to get too serious. That was his last outing in competitive racing. Hope the sud runs another 30 years!
Hello murche, haven't seen you in 20 years, the last time i saw you was at an Alfa Club Sprint day at Calder, in an Alfetta.
Hope your dad Robert is doing well, send him my best regards.
Too much biff and barge in the Sud series for privateers, Ok for people like Tony Longhurst and co with wealthy parents.
I heard that Robert was a bit of a whizz at Motorkahnas due to his ability to round up the sheep in his Alfa Romeo.
Now the bad news, the poor little Sud was written off about 3 years ago, when Stephen stopped to give way to a garbage truck pulling out, and the Hyundai driver wasn't watching and rear ended the Sud at 60 kph and wrote it off, but he was still able to drive it home, lucky to get away with it without any injuries.
Club member purchased the wreck for spare parts, and as strange as it may seem, lives in the same street as me!, hope to catch up with you sometime, Colin.
20 years...time does slip away doesn't it. You must be Colin who had the Alfa 33? Thanks for steering me around Phillip Island and giving me some pointers that time! I gave the club racing away because at the time (and even though it was relatively cheap thrills) I didn't have the funds to keep the car up to a reasonable standard. It is still to this day the best fun I have had behind the wheel. I still have a flicker of desire to get a dedicated track car though...one day. Sorry to hear of the Sud's demise. I never realized your brother brought the car from dad when we met on the odd track day. Might see you again some time. Regards, Edward.
I actually blame the twin carb Sud for getting me addicted to Alfa Romeo's, when i drove the Sud, i thought, well this is it, thats where i have to go, if only i had been introduced to something less addictive like ICE, instead of that Sud.
Never owned a Sud, but was 'caretaker' for about 7 years, loved that car, my favourite Alfa Romeo, broke down once in 7 years when a dodgy mechanic put an even dodgier distributor in it.
The mechanic of course was me, it was my cleanest dirty shirt, to get it going!
Swapped it over with a goodin out of the 33, and i was on my way.
Drive past the place everyday, where the Sud spluttered to a halt and always think of it, and how i miss it.
If you are in Melbourne on November, Sunday the 29th, call into Wesley College for Spectacolo, be good to catch up, Colin.
Wish I could pop down for Spectacolo but I'm on the gold coast until January. Nothing permanent though and I may be more Melbourne based in the future. After 20 years farming I think I need to try something else! So perhaps I will see you sometime, hopefully at the track. I don't really have any memory of the performance of the sud because I was to young but my sister had one. I think it was an "L" series? Quite an early model I think. It was a fun and nimble car. Currently parked in the barn alongside the alfetta I used to use. They might be valuable barn finds in about 1000 years!
Not likely to see me and the 33 at the track, except for parade laps these days.
Alfasud recently sold on Gumtree or Ebay for mid teens, if i remember rightly, was about a 1975 model, so don't be too sure that they are worth nothing, there are so few left now, keep it and look after it, Colin.
It was interesting to see that Mike Raymond interviewed Allan Grice and Tony Longhurst before the final race. Also interesting to hear them being interviewed after the race! Grice was ever the politician (of course he really did become one!) in not revealing his future intentions.
Of course Grice did protest and when that was thrown out he took the case to court!
Tony Longhurst won the Alfa 33 which he promptly sold and pocketed about $13K. Grice sued Longhurst, the promoter (the ARDC) and the prize giver (Alfa Romeo Australia) and actually won the case! It took over 10 years to work its way through court system and by good fortune (I was working in the legal industry at the time) I managed to see the settlement document. It made interesting reading... :o
Today if you tried such a blatant tap as Longhurst did on Grice you would get a black flag or a pitlane drive-by penalty and there would be no disputing who the winner should have been. That would have saved all fo the protagonists a lot of grief, not to mention a lot of cash as well... ::)
Quote from: Paul Newby on November 17, 2014, 01:53:40 PM
I managed to see the settlement document. It made interesting reading... :o
There must be something you can tell us, even if it's in code....
Quote from: Sheldon McIntosh on November 20, 2014, 11:49:03 PM
Quote from: Paul Newby on November 17, 2014, 01:53:40 PM
I managed to see the settlement document. It made interesting reading... :o
There must be something you can tell us, even if it's in code....
It was a long time ago...
However Grice won the case and the other parties (Longhurst, ARDC and ARA) had to pay the settlement amount which would have been the sale price of the 33 plus interest accrued and I presume also Grice's legal costs. But don't quote me...