Expect the unexpected
The AMSCAR Series tossed up some unexpected results, surprise entrants and unusual car/driver combos in the years of Group A. Like the day in August 1985 Allan Grice drove an Alfetta in the 155-lap Better Brakes 300. Yes, Grice in an Alfetta. How many readers remember that?
This was the Paul Halstead-owned GTV6 run as a side-project to The Toy Shop’s more famous NatWest Finance Pantera GT. Grice lined up seventh on the grid but suffered gearbox failure after just three laps. Unsurprisingly, Gricey found another ride for Oran Park’s enduro two weeks later, a privateer Commodore.
The main story outlines the day in March 1986 when Garry Willmington won a short and sweet ve-lap opening heat during round two. This was probably the greatest four minutes and 38 seconds of the Sydneysider’s racing career, as he blasted into the lead from pole position and held off Colin Bond’s IGNIS-backed Alfa and reigning ATCC champ Jim Richards’ JPS BMW 635CSi for an impressive victory. The trio were three wide at one stage – don’t let anyone tell you that was impossible at the tight 1.9km circuit – in a battle between British, Italian and German marques, with an Aussie Commodore trailing in fourth.
Heats two and three also tossed up shock privateer winners, BMW runners Garry Rogers and Charlie O’Brien respectively, on an uncharacteristically off-day for the JPS cars.
Willmington was not the only Group A Jaguar runner to make an AMSCAR appearance in ’86, with the elusive white cat of John Clinton brie y sighted at bushy Annangrove one weekend before disappearing off the scene again.
Trevor Ashby’s achievement in stealing a heat win from the JPS team in 1987 shouldn’t be sneezed at, especially as regulars Richards and Longhurst had back-up that season. In a classic example of team manager Frank Gardner’s left- eld thinking, the factory squad’s third M3 was driven by engine-builder Ludwig Finauer, who had taken over test driving duties from the terry-towelling hatted one that year (Gardner preferred that a Sydneysider turn test laps at their home track, rather than y in Melbourne-based Richards or Gold Coaster Longhurst). Such was Finauer’s pace around Amaroo in testing, the German-born mechanic was rewarded with some race starts. He was no slouch either, twice nishing races in the top three that year.