The Rise of Brock with the Holden Dealer Team
1971-73 saw the birth of what was to be Australia’s greatest race car driver, not just of his day, but of all time!
Peter Brock drove the ‘giant killer’ Torana XU-1 to victory at the 1972 Bathurst and, in doing so, stepped out of the shadow of his teammate, Colin Bond, and high-profile competitors like Allan Moffat.
It was the final 500 mile Bathurst, but the first of Peter Brock’s wins and certainly made him a household name.
The 1973 Bathurst race was a win that slipped through Peter Brock’s fingers, but occurred in a season that otherwise was very successful for the rising star.
Torana XU-2
This V8 XU-1 was code named the XU-2 by Harry Firth. They bought out the Phase Four Falcon and the V8 XU-1 and the Australian government said they had far too much power, which was brought on by a leading motoring journalist who said these cars shouldn’t be allowed to hit the road because they were so powerful.
This car represents the only four that were built, and they were all supposedly were destroyed. But this car was put together by some people with Harry Firth. He came along, he checked the car and he wrote them a list on how to build it.
Therefore, it’s a very good representation, even down to the ‘Harry Firth Wing’, and no original would have come any different if they had not been phased out.
1972 Torana XU-1
This is a tribute to the car that Peter Brock fronted up to Bathurst with and drove the whole race on his own to take out the final 500 mile Bathurst race, and his very first Bathurst win!
You’ve got to have a soft spot in your heart for these cars. They have a six cylinder engine, triple carbies and go have a look at the seats! They really were a road car on road tyres!
One of the most interesting rumours about the ‘72 races is that to keep the fluids up, the drivers were drinking Coca Cola to stay hydrated!
This car took Brock to his first Bathurst win and started him on the journey that took him to be one of the country’s most famous race car drivers we have ever had!
The Beast
This V8 XU-1 was code named the XU-2 by Harry Firth. They bought out the Phase Four Falcon and the V8 XU-1 and the Australian government said they had far too much power, which was brought on by a leading motoring journalist who said these cars shouldn’t be allowed to hit the road because they are so powerful.
This car represents the only four that were built, and they were all supposedly were destroyed. But this car was put together by some people with Harry Firth. He came along, he checked the car and he wrote them a list on how to build it.
Therefore, it’s a very good representation, even down to the ‘Harry Firth Wing’, and no original would have come any different if they had not been phased out.
1973 LJ Torana
This car is one of the cars that Brock said that should be put in the collection in Yeppoon when the collection was being sourced.
It was winning the first ever Bathurst 1000 in ’73 but unfortunately, there was an error in the lap time and fuel consumption calculations and this LJ Torana ran out of fuel with Doug Chivas driving it!
The rules were that the car had to make it back to its grid position and so Doug had to push it to the entry of the pit lane. Brock eventually jumped in the car and away he went to finish a close second!
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