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The Victorian Historic Racing Register’s upcoming Sandown Historic race meeting
from November 10-12 was to have been a very special occasion for Melbourne IT
professional Chiomi Gendre.
It was there that Peter Brock was due to get behind the wheel of her car –
the famous ‘05’ four-door Torana A9X in which he won his first race back with
the Holden Dealer Team nearly 19 years ago at the same circuit.
“Peter had a special affection for this car,” said Chiomi, who together with
her husband Tony Sawford run a brace of famous A9X Toranas in the growing Group
C category for historic touring cars that raced in Australia from 1973-1984.
“He had a really good look at the car when we ran at Phillip Island earlier
this year and asked if he could do a couple of laps in what was obviously an
‘old friend’ to him.
“But we wanted to have the car right for him first and so the date was set
for Sandown, which was very appropriate because of his success in the car
there.”
When he rejoined the HDT for 1978 under new team manager John Sheppard, Peter
Brock had to re-earn his stripes. So while his teammate John Harvey was given
the Team’s two-door A9X to drive in the non-championship touring car race at
Sandown early in the season, Brock was given the well-raced four-door A9X from
the previous season that Sheppard had inherited from retiring HDT manager Harry
Firth.
It was a ‘test’ which Brock mastered in typical style, winning at Sandown
first time back in HDT colours, proudly carrying his signature ‘05’ racing
number.
A stellar year followed, in which he went on to win not only his second
Australian Touring Car Championship, but also claim victory in the two major
endurance races at Sandown and Bathurst.
When Chiomi Gendre and her husband both decided to go Group C motor racing
around five years ago, they looked around for suitable historic touring cars.
Tony, a Melbourne power steering reconditioner, located the ex-Alan Grice
Craven Mild two-door Torana A9X that the Sydney driver raced at Bathurst in 1978
and used throughout the 1979 season. It was still in its original racing
condition when Tony began racing it two years ago and today he’s snapping at the
heels of the Group C category leaders in historic races.
Chiomi’s first racing car proved to be a much more difficult project.
Following the 1978 season, the Brock A9X was sold and turned into a road car
and remained in this state until nearly three years ago when Chiomi located and
then bought it.
“While it still looked like it did in 1978 and still had the ‘05’ numbers on
its doors, much of the racing equipment including the roll cage was gone,” she
said. “We’ve spent a lot of time researching and rebuilding the car to the same
specification as when Peter drove it and it has now been completed for just over
a year.
“I’m just so sorry that Peter and the car won’t be reunited at Sandown. It
would have been a special moment and that thought will be with us all meeting.”
To honour Peter Brock, a special memorial parade of some of his famous race
cars will lead the Group C field on its warm-up lap around the circuit for its
main race on Sunday. So while he won’t be at the wheel of his old Sandown
winner, Chiomi and Tony will at least be in the same 'race'.
More than 300 historic racing, sports and touring cars have entered the
Sandown meeting, which is sponsored by the VACC, Shannons, Tattersall’s and
Wurth from November 10-12.
As well as a big grid of historic Group C and Group A touring cars,
highlights of the meeting include the appearance of around 23 thundering Formula
5000 open wheeler V8 racing cars in a series of races, while off the circuit, an
estimated 100 special cars from Brock Commodores and GT and GT HO Falcons will
be the stars of the Shannons Show & Shine under the main grandstand.
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