IDLE TORQUE
MAZDA maestro Allan Horsley’s long been a man of motorsport. Back before the heady days of Sydney’s Oran Park, through ear-splitting days with Allan Moffat’s RX-7 and then success-upon-success with Mazda race and rally teams.
Horsley’s a no-crap, droll character. Ever ready with brusque quip and a dry smile. A multi-talented manager behind winning teams - from endurance championships to a hat-trick of Bathurst 12 Hour victories - Horsley also doubled as a Mazda public relations man for more than 30 years; his press launches were memorable.
As an Albury lad, Horsley was hooked on motorsport. He built his first race car at 16 - “a pretty ugly looking thing.” In the late 1950s, he helped build the Hume Weir circuit on the south side of the Murray River, became secretary of the Albury and District Car Club and ran race meetings there. “I was racing odds and sods, interested in rallying too. Then I got a call from Jack Allan at Oran Park,” he recalls. “So, I flew up for an interview - my first time on an aeroplane. The place was in a pretty bad financial situation, but we got it to come good and redeveloped the joint.”
From 1965, young Horsley was Oran Park’s manager, signing rising ace Peter Brock to race exclusively at that track in New South Wales; Brock and Moffat both got “expense money”.
Sixteen years and record crowds later, Horsley was over race track promotion and considering trying real estate, when Moffat and Mazda came calling. Just prior to this Horsley, as Australian Touring Car Championship’s official ‘measurer’, ran the ruler over the original RX-7 and determined it was a touring car within the regulations.
Allan was the straightest shooter in motor racing, according to Moffat.
And Horsley, now retired, says he learnt much from the excanadian.
“He was just absolute concentration at a race circuit, but I never had an argument with him. Never,” says Horsley. “He was big on detail. Everything had to be perfect. He’d work on, say springs, for the rear of the car for like five, six hours. Away from the race circuit he was fabulous. An absolute gentleman.”
Moffat and the Mazda RX-7 claimed the Australian Touring Car title in 1983, plus endurance championships in 1982 and 1984; team manager Horsley became more involved with Mazda Australia.
“In those days it was fantastic there, very rewarding. I was allowed to do a lot of things like build turbo cars and show cars. Mazda wanted that image and it helped with sales, greatly.”
Public relations mixed well with motorsport. “I really believed in what I was doing with Mazda, they really were good cars and good people. Pretty easy to sell the thing. If it was a crap car - and there were plenty around in those days - I don’t think I would’ve been doing it.”
Further helping the Japanese manufacturer’s image were Bathurst 12 Hour wins from 1992-1994. But rivals began upping the ante and, for 1995’s Eastern Creek 12 Hour, Horsley built a trimmed-down RX-7 SP with rotary boosted to 204kw. Another winner, one of the most satisfying. Of all Mazdas, he loved those RX-7S and thought the RX-8 was underestimated. A favourite? “Yeah, that RX-7 SP”. He chuckles. Allan Horsley always knew how to read a rule book.
The focus turned to Targa Tasmania with Mazda taking 11 class wins through to 2012; Targa was also the unofficial test track for another Horsley special - the road-going turbocharged MX-5 SP.
Through the seasons an astute Horsley handpicked drivers - the likes of Allan Jones, Dick Johnson, John Bowe, Gregg Hansford, Gary Waldon and Kevin Bartlett. All good, though he needed to remind some - particularly rally drivers - to concentrate.
But wins depended on the car, driver and team. “It’s all of those things. And everything had to be perfect. If you got a bit lazy, a bit untidy, it’d bite you. A lot of it was taught to me by Moffat - be prepared for anything.”