Saloon car climax at Pukekohe

Press, 1 February 1986, Page 7

Saloon car climax at Pukekohe

By

PETER GREENSLADE

Serious group A saloon car racing will finish for the 1985-86 season with . round two of the international Nissan Mobil 500 series at Pukekohe tomorrow. The opening round was decided in favour of the Australian Peter Brock-Allan Moffat Holden Commodore combination on the Wellington waterfront street circuit last Sunday afternoon. Christchurchentered Archibald Motor Sport BMW 635C51 had failed within a few laps to the finish of the 538.5 km race on the 2.64 km circuit Right from the start, the brilliant Christchurch driver, Trevor Crowe, kept the BMW among the front runners and had worked the car towards a winning position when he handed it over to his codriver, Tony Longhurst, of Queensland, for the second part of the race. At that stage rain was falling quite heavily and although Longhurst had never raced in the rain previously, he found the car very much to his liking and was able to overcome Moffat in the Commodore and build up a commanding lead. However, the advantage was lost when, in the race’s dying stages, the right-hand front suspension unit came adrift from the mainframe, and Longhurst, forced to retire, handed the race to the Australian Commodore crew on a platter. The Crowe-Longhurst BMW was just one among many of the more favoured racers to fall by the wayside. Others were the-David Oxton-Andy Rouse Ford Sierra XR4ti, the two Rover Vitesses of the internationally recognised

Tom Walkinshaw-Win Percy and Ron Dickson-Armin Hahne team, as well as the Volvo 240 T, which was driven by Robbie Francevic with the 1985 European Touring Car champion, Thomas Llndstrim, as his partner. By the time the race ended the Wellington street circuit looked as if it had witnessed demolition derby with so many battered racers by the roadside. - While there is always a possibility that Pukekohe will develop as did the Wellington race, the longer and faster 3.35035 km circuit should be kinder to the men and their machines.

Crowe and Longhurst clinched the 1985 Benson and Hedges Group A endurance racing series at Pukekohe in the Archibald Motor Sport BMW when they won the sixhour race at an average speed of 133km/h to finish three laps ahead of the Dick Johnson-Neville Crichton Ford Mustang GT. Significantly, Johnson and Crichton, driving the same car, finished second but a lap down on Brock and Moffat last Sunday. Brock-Moffat, incidentally, averaged 108.72km/h on. the bumpy .Wellington circuit. Although ; past performances are' an: indication of form and Crowe and Longhurst are? very familiar with the characteristics of the Pukekohe - circuit,; Sunday’s race promises to be very open. It may well be that the Rover Vitesse models will shine, although there is a fair percentage of tight corners which the cars will not like. For sheer performance the Holden Commodores will take a lot of beating.- However, among the faster examples, only the Brock-Moffat

car proved itself in Wellington, most of the others suffering driveline troubles. Also, Pukekohe will be harder- on' brakes and particularly the latter, if the race is run on a dry tracks and, under those circumstances, European cars such as the Archi-‘. bald BMW, the" Volvo ;-240£ and-th'e'Tlover; Vitesse; mayhave a' slight edge.: ’ A big question mark, will hang sover .'the - Sierra --XR4ti,. Rouse has returned to England, so Oxton will have a new partner in the car which is undoubtedly very quick but, unfortunately, none tdo reliable.

On the face of it, JohnsonCrichton in the Mustang may have to keep the Ford flag flying and, fortunately for Christchurch interests, the Archibald Motor Sport BMW 635CSi has already beaten that combination fairly and squarely as well as conclusively at Pukekohe. As Mr John Fairhall, the owner of the Archibald Motor Sport team, put it Crowe and Longhurst know their task will not be easy amid a galaxy of talent and exceptionally good cars; but they are mentally and physically, equipped td.take on thezbest!,,; “Let’s, hope; we : can show them that the South Island and Christchurch, in particular, has whaf .it takes, to;;win; again at Pukekohe. I’m sure that Trevor and Tony; have gained a tremendous amount of respect from their Wellington showing,” said Mr Fairhall. “Whatever the outcome, I’m sure the team will be able to say with complete honesty that it did its best," he said, and added that it was going to Auckland with the objective of winning.