Bathurst by the years
1973
After the success that Leonard enjoyed with the E49 Valiant Charger in the ‘72/’73 Castrol GTX Series, Todd Motors organised for Chrysler Australia to build a new E49 for Leonard/Sprague to tackle the 1973 Bathurst 1000. However, E49 production had stopped with the arrival of the facelifted VJ series in April ‘73. The solution was to build a special VJ E49. It was one of only four such cars built. The new Sun re Yellow E49 was delivered to Harvey Drew City Chrysler in Darlinghurst. Leonard, along with Ernie Sprague and a couple of mechanics, ew over to Sydney to prepare the Charger to NZ series production spec (not Australian Group C.)
On arrival at Bathurst the Kiwi team found to their dismay that the VJ Charger E49 wasn’t homologated. Fortunately the team was able to convince CAMS that there were no mechanical changes from the VH to VJ and their entry would be accepted if it was presented as a VH E49. The dealer support VH Ute was stripped of its grille and rectangular lights and grafted onto the Charger!
“We get to Bathurst practice and we didn’t have a suitable diff ratio,” recalls Leonard who speci ed the standard 3.5 diff and not the optional 3.23 diff as used in the E38. “We were running out of revs halfway down the straights but I still had to keep the foot down. The hydraulic lifters were pumping up and putting pressures on the lobes of the camshaft and wearing them. It pulled the heads off a couple of valves and they went through the pistons. We were getting paid reasonable starting money so it was important that we made the grid. Fortunately the Geoghegans (who’s Grace Bros-backed Charger was being driven by Des West and Bill Brown) lent us the (E38) engine out of one of their development utilities and the boys put that in overnight. Talking to Leo (Geoghegan) years after, they got onto the hydraulic tappet issue quite early during development. We never had this issue back home but then we don’t have any circuits that have a downhill straight over a mile long…”
Leonard started the race in 17th, the third fastest of the ve Chargers entered. He made up a couple of places before handing over to
Sprague. During Sprague’s stint, the bootlid popped open, then a rear wheel bearing issue surfaced and nally the tired engine cried enough after 62 laps.
1977
As already noted, Leonard was invited to test Rusty French’s new black XC Falcon Hardtop that had been built up by ex-Allan Moffat mechanic Dale Sudholz at Calder the week before the Sandown 400. The test went well and Leonard was impressed with the Falcon. Alas, at Sandown it broke a wheel bearing after only six laps.
At Bathurst, the Falcon broke an axle in practice though Leonard was still able to qualify an impressive 17th just behind experienced local Falcon racers Dick Johnson and John Goss. During the race the Falcon broke a gearbox mount with French at the wheel. This damaged a seal and the resultant oil leak seized the gearbox. By the time the box was changed they were many laps down and ultimately not classi ed, completing only 99 laps.
1978
The Falcon XC Hardtop raced by Leonard and old mate Gary Sprague had a colourful history. An ex-Allan Moffat lightweight shell, it was purchased by western Sydney massage parlour owner Norm G Smith for Garry Willmington to build up to race. Unfortunately
Smith fell out with Willmington, who enlisted Kiwi mechanic Neil Brain to nish the car’s build. Brain was a good friend of Sprague and recommended him and Leonard for the drive. The red-and-white XC coupe was bereft of sponsors and Leonard recalls that the body wasn’t even seamed welded. However, he showed his class by qualifying 18th. The race was another matter, however. The gearbox jammed in top gear and the rear brakes failed at the end of Conrod, resulting in a trip to Bathurst… The pair were unclassi ed competing only 119 laps.
1979
Leonard says that the XC Falcon Hardtop he raced with ex-speedway racer Ron Wanless at Sandown and Bathurst was the best car that he ever drove at the Mountain. This was the ex-Jim Richards Melford Falcon that Goss had borrowed for the Rothmans 500 at Oran Park – with Leonard as co-driver!
Wanless had bought the car along with engines, parts and even the transporter from Dick Johnson (it had been their second car in ‘78) but didn’t have a co-driver. It was Jim Richards who recommended Leonard. At Sandown he quali ed well but had overheating issues at the start and blew a head gasket during the race.
At Bathurst Leonard quali ed the Falcon a superb 10th fastest but missed the Hardies Heroes Top 10 run-off as the rules stated the eight fastest cars plus two at the discretion of the ARDC would be included in the Shoot-out. So it was that Allan Moffat and Bob Morris got the call up, with John Harvey and Leonard being relegated to 11th and 12th.
“That was a really good car,” re calls. “At Bathurst the car was capable of pole. In
qualifying I’m about to go out and it is full of fuel, brimmed to the top. The guys didn’t know. So they siphoned some out. It’s starting to drizzle so I had to go out. I got to 10th on the grid (2:35.1), but we were bumped from Hardies Heroes. I started the race and blew the engine after 21 laps. I really thought we would get a top
ve nish.
1981
Leonard was actually entered to co-drive with Rusty French in his new XD Falcon in 1980 but the car never arrived at Bathurst. However, it was all systems go with French’s black Falcon for 1981. The unsorted Falcon quali ed amongst the class cars in 30th and was signi cantly delayed early in the race with
issues that Leonard can’t recall. Still they were running at the end of the shortened 120 lap race and despite being 20 laps behind they were classi ed 22nd outright.
1982
Another year another Falcon, this time the ex-Dick Johnson ’81 Bathurst winning XD of Queenslander Alf Grant. Leonard remembers the Falcon starting off well in practice but then seemingly losing power with the team searching for a problem that didn’t exist. Leonard quali ed mid pack behind the troublesome XE Falcons of Steve Masterton and Murray Carter. In the race he parked it after 48 laps with a blown engine.
1983
This would be the rst and only time that Leonard would race a Holden, and it would net him his only top 10 nish in the Great Race. Melbourne privateer Jim Keogh engaged Leonard for Sandown and Bathurst in his ex-MDHT Commodore. At Sandown Leonard was in the top 10 with only a handful of laps remaining when he broke the differential. A failure he conceded was his fault – he was dropping the inside rear wheel into a pothole exiting Peters Corner and broke the diff.
At Bathurst Keogh elected to qualify instead of Leonard, and had the almightiest of loses at the end of Conrod Straight, knocking down two
re fences and leaping over an earth mound. The damage was signi cant and although repaired overnight the Commodore never felt as good again. It was later discovered that the steering rack was bent. Still Keogh and Leo, as displayed on their windscreen banner, pressed on all day despite chronic brake issues that required pumping the pedal for most of the race to nish a ne sixth outright.
1986
Kiwi racing entrepreneur Mark Petch, fresh from his involvement with the Volvo Dealer Racing Team, had bought the ex-Andy Rouse BTCC winning Ford Sierra XR4 Ti (a precursor to the dominant Sierra Cosworth RS500), from fellow Kiwi David Oxton for Leonard to race at Bathurst. When fellow Kiwi
Volvo refugee and reigning ATCC champion Robbie Francevic became available he was slotted in to drive the Sierra.
On paper, the Sierra was a front running car. In practice it was anything but, however, suffering from a multitude of problems including a broken rocker. In the race Francevic climbed from 17th on the grid to just outside the top 10 in a handful of laps before breaking another rocker. The Sierra resumed after losing several laps only to stop at the top of Mountain Straight with electrical dramas. Leonard never turned a lap.
1987
While Leonard didn’t actually race in what would be the one and only World Touring Car Championship round at Mount
Panorama it wasn’t because the phone didn’t ring, as he explains.
“Mark (Petch) offered me a drive with Johnny Cecotto in a BMW M3 in 87, but I turned it down. Then Brocky, while he was in Europe (racing his Commodore at the Spa 24 Hour) offered me a drive in the second Mobil Holden Dealer Team Commodore. He rang Bev who rang me and offered the drive. I said I had decided to retire, but I thought ‘it’s with Brock.’ So I had a think about this. Then she said it would cost $50,000, and I said I’m not into that. She rang back the next night and said I’ve been speaking to Peter and he said he can get the $50,000 from Air New Zealand if I would drive. But I had made my mind up and said no, thanks all the same. Of course that car won the race…!”