11 March: Tyre Terror in Tassie

Dick Johnson found the groove again in Round 2 of the ATCC, held deep within the map of Tassie. On a power circuit like Symmons Plains the event was always going to be a Sierra benefit, but with so many Sierras on the grid nowadays it wasn't at all clear which of them was going to come out on top. The result ultimately came down to the black art of the modern racing industry – the tyres.

Symmons Says
1990 actually marked the 30th anniversary of Symmons Plains Raceway. Carved out of a corner of the Youl estate near Launceston, with its two-storey Georgian brick home dating back to 1839, the permanent Symmons Plains circuit had replaced the discontinued once-a-year Longford road course, which by the late 1960s had become too dangerous (or too unprofitable) to be Tasmania's racing tentpole. Despite being a regular fixture on the schedule since then, Symmons had rather been robbed of memorable title-deciding moments after the 1969 and 1970 seasons, when it had been moved from the season finale to the curtain-raiser, or close to it. The reason was the same as why NASCAR only holds its Michigan rounds in June or July: latitude.

The Apple Isle was and is a revhead paradise, home to the brilliantly laid-out (but club-level only) Baskerville Raceway, the miniature Stelvio of Jacob's Ladder, and other wondrous bits of tarmac that in a couple of years would be hosting the Targa Tasmania... but you just couldn't ask an interstate audience to sit trackside in Tassie any day outside high summer. Two centuries of careful inbreeding might've made the hardy Taswegians able to bear the bitter cold, enough to lend their support to club- and state-level meetings and various other weekend warriors, but if you wanted to hold a national-level race that could attract visitors from the mainland (or the North Island, as they sardonically call us) to boost your economy... yeah, mid-March really was your cut-off. Any date after that, and the slightest breeze would pick up a hint of the snow likely settling on the hilltops to the south and leave your patrons hugging themselves trying to get the feeling back in their fingers, or forming a grumbling queue in front of the tea urn at the chip van (coffee stands were an innovation the 90’s were yet to bring).

So although the circuit was nevertheless a stringent test of skill, the history of Symmons was one of mostly-forgotten duels, race results that merely chipped in a few early points to drivers who would later be fighting over the championship. A shame, and less than it deserved, but that’s how it would be in 1990 as well.

Tassie Time Trials
The combination of long straights and highly boostable Cosworth engines meant qualifying was always going to be a Sierra party, and so it turned out: nine of the top ten qualifiers, including the fastest six, were all driving Fords. Fastest of them all was Peter Brock, a tenth faster than his pole last year with a lap of 55.86 seconds, thanks to a special relationship with his tyre partners at Bridgestone. Rule changes for the year meant ultra-sticky qualifying tyres could no longer be used, but such was the pace of development that even on race tyres (and with the extra 80kg of ballast on board), records could still fall only a year after they were set.

Things have changed since 1989. We arrived here very wet behind the ears as far as Sierras were concerned, however 12 months down the track we're now doing better than the qualifying times we did last year on race tyres. The interesting thing is that the field is so close... – Peter Brock

He wasn't wrong: although good for pole, his lap had been barely five hundredths of a second faster than Tony Longhurst in P2, and only three-quarters of a second faster than teammate Andrew Miedecke, who was almost certainly given leftover practice tyres and a B-spec car made from spare parts. Longhurst of course had the benefit of driving chassis TLR2, a car with the steering wheel on the left at a circuit with mostly left-hand turns, but he was probably running an engine tuned with the latest tips from Wolf Racing in Germany, not the Rouse engine Brocky was using. He was also, like the Johnson machines, running on Dunlop tyres rather than Bridgestones. It was a sign of how intense the competition was that all had qualified so close together, as despite the wildly different technical backgrounds the gap from Brock's 1st to Gregg Hansford's 10th place in the Eggenberger car was less than 1.4 seconds. But the real shock was Jim Richards in the works Skyline, who was right among them in 7th, the sole interloper in the top ten.

We've been pleasantly surprised in practice so far that we're so close to them. And although we're 7th on the grid, there's only about half- to three-quarters of a second difference between the first seven or eight cars. That, to us, is very important, because it means we are competitive with the Sierras on this track where we thought we wouldn't be. – Jim Richards

Indeed, to be in the middle of the Sierra pack in qualifying was to be sitting pretty on race pace...

Rubber's Racin'
The car at the centre of events for the 1990 Symmons round was this one.

Well, not this one, the sister car just like it.

I don't know that this photo wasn't taken at Symmons Plains, so I'll post it here. If you know better, the comment box is below.

Brock's Sierra was a little different from the others on the grid. For one, he was about the only man in Australia still relying on Andy Rouse for parts and tuning chips – everyone else'd had a gutful of the bastard long ago. For another, if you choose to watch the video below, you'll notice frequent puffs of oil smoke from the #05's exhaust even when it's not in trouble. This was likely because of its unique exhaust layout, which exited from the rear of the car rather than under the door. After a chat with long-time Brock mechanic John Heckrath, the V8 Sleuth revealed this exhaust layout had been fitted purely because Brock didn’t like the noise, to the point that even wore noise-cancelling earphones during the races! The team only used this exhaust layout in the sprint rounds, as it was said to drain excessive oil out of the engine. Which, watching the footage, you can see every time Brock lifts off the throttle.

And of course, the third difference was that Brock's cars ran on Bridgestone tyres rather than the Dunlops of the Longhurst and Johnson teams, or the Yokohamas of Seton's team. Having proved supreme in qualifying, the Bridgestones would remain supreme for 35 of the 50 minutes on Sunday. Unfortunately, as they say, it's the last lap that you have to lead, not the first...

At the start they all got away in a huge cloud of smoke – most of it from Alan Jones – but Brocky got that much further away and barrelled into Turn 1 in the lead, leaving the yellow-team train on the outside rail behind him, and the red-team train on the inside. Longhurst then out-dragged Dick down the back straight to take 2nd place, but Jonesy had a problem right at the start, generating an enormous cloud of smoke and touring around his opening lap to pit and see the doctor. It emerged, after the commentators had a quick consult with team manager Frank Gardner, that Jonesy had blown the left-rear tyre on the starting line and needed a replacement. He rejoined, but at the back of the field, a lap down.

At the front, however, the pace was searing, Brock's first flying lap a 56.8, compared to the 55.9 he'd done the day before. On cold tyres with full fuel, that was a pretty solid effort. Despite that, Longhurst was the man who was on a mission, pushing his car hard trying to catch the Mobil #05 ahead of him. Behind the lead trio was a modest gap, then John Bowe, Glenn Seton, Andrew Miedecke and finally Jim Richards, first non-Sierra in 7th.

After ten minutes of racing, Brock was 3.4 seconds up the road and gone: Longhurst's early charge was over, his mind now on the much more patient (but prowling nevertheless) Dick Johnson behind him. Tony in fact had a problem: after the first ad break, the telecast returned to show a replay of Tony being passed by Dick in Turn 6, following which he slowed dramatically. He shortly returned to garage (not even stopping in pit lane) and retired with 11 laps on the board, his engine ruined.

We started off nicely and I got past Dick. [But] when I was in behind Peter the water temp was starting to come up a little bit, it was up to about a hundred and ten. I thought, "I better just back off a little bit," so I dropped 500 revs, and that's when Dick was catching me. So I thought, "Little bit of a problem here with the water temperature," and then it suddenly went off the clock. Obviously it's split a bore, or blown a head gasket. – Tony Longhurst

That left the Shell cars 2nd and 3rd, Glenn Seton 4th, Miedecke 5th and Richo 6th. Two laps later and the gap from Brock to Johnson was 3.1 seconds, and that despite Brocky visibly driving the nuts off his car – slight brake lock-ups, little wiggles as the applied the power, nothing completely out of control but pushing his luck nevertheless. Some of that was oil dropped by Longhurst (Dick complained his windscreen needed a wash after Tony's blow-up), but some of it was just Peter milking it for all it was worth. Five laps later and the gap was down to 2.0 seconds – a lap later it was back out to 2.3, hinting that Johnson was biding his time, but two laps after that it had see-sawed back down to 1.8, then 1.6. This tug-o-war was only going to end one way.

As a side note, there was also Glenn Seton, who'd lost the top of his gearstick leaving him to change without it! James Hunt had virtually crucified himself trying that at Silverstone, so hopefully Glenn would have an easier day of it. At least he’d made the right choice of Yokohamas this time...

30 minutes into the 50-minute race, Alan Jones stopped for another set of tyres, and with those fitted he went on a rampage. Racing with anyone and everyone, he even managed to unlap himself from Brock and thus get back onto the lead lap – spectacularly, by going around the outside into the Brambles Hairpin.

Tough day for Tony, one car out within 10 minutes, the other irrelevant literally on the starting line.

That, in retrospect, was a moment loaded with significance. With 15 minutes remaining in the race, Peter’s tyres were dying. The gap to Johnson was now 0.8 seconds, and shrinking.

For a moment Brock had breathing space, as both he and Johnson came up to lap Larry Perkins and Johnson was held up for a full lap, but then Dick came roaring back and was right on Peter's bumper along the front straight after the pits. And there into Brambles, something happened. Brocky's rear was suddenly enveloped in a cloud of smoke that rivalled Jonesy's at the start, and the back end was skating all through the Hairpin – so bad in fact that Johnson tapped him in the middle of the turn, leaving him squirming for traction as they departed down the straight. The next time around they were much neater, but there was no hiding that the Mobil Sierra was skating a bit, completely out of grip at the rear. Another touch through Turn 7 was a love tap, no biggie between drivers with this much history together. Another lap and this time Johnson pulled the classic manoeuvre: he got a tow down the long back straight, pulled out of the slipstream onto the inside line, then applied the brake a split-second later than Brock to take the lead by sheer track position. All very chess-like and, because it was Brocky, clean. 44 minutes into a 50-minute race, and Johnson was finally leading.

The interest in the final minutes was provided by Seton trying to find a way past John Bowe. As a Tasmanian Bowe would've loved nothing better than to win in front of his home crowd, but it wasn't going to be this year. Indeed, he had his hands full just keeping the young and future Ford Hero behind him! Some heart-stoppers came when they went three-wide into Brambles while lapping Larry Perkins, and Bowe shortly thereafter had a lock up into Turn 6. All very stirring stuff.

But in truth this race was done. Johnson wound out the final laps to take the win, with Brock a distant 2nd, Bowe a comfortable 3rd, Seton a fighting 4th and Andrew Miedecke a lonely 5th. Colin Bond in the #8 Caltex Sierra made it a Ford 1-2-3-4-5-6. Only then came Amaroo winner Jim Richards as the only works Nissan driver of the weekend. Win Percy, meanwhile, brought the #16 Walky home in 9th place, last man on the lead lap but first of the Commodores, scoring the first-ever points for HRT.

Post-race, with just the TV interviews to get through, Dick told us about what we expected:

Dick Johnson: The main thing that we're really concentrating on is really setting up our car for a distance rather than for one lap. And this sort of proves it, because the last few races we’ve basically had to play the waiting game to a certain extent – it's just like the pursuer and the pursue-ee, you know? But I was really trying, and ol' Pete there... a couple of times I just sort of rubbed bumper bars with him, and he got a bit sideways up the hairpin. But that’s what it's all about, because I'd never intentionally run into anyone, and we got a damn good race!

Channel Seven's Cameron Williams: It seems already that the racing should be closer this year. That has to be good for the championship?

Johnson: Well that’s the name of the game, because I think I’m last in the horsepower race at the moment, to be quite honest!

At this point Brock chipped in, and although his comment was hard to make out over all the other speakers, it sounded like a cheeky, "You don’t wanna swap, do you?" The needle between these two never stopped: in his interview a moment earlier, Brock had extended his congratulations to "George and Graeme Brown and all the boys" rather than Dick himself – Graeme Brown of course being better known as Mort, Brock's old team manager in their Holden Dealer Team days, now managing Dick Johnson Racing instead. Not to be outdone, upon being awarded the victor's ribbon Dick served him one back with one of the subtlest Johnson-isms ever.

Thanks very much indeed. I'd like to congratulate Peter, because he gave us a fairly hard sort of a race. It was a good race; early in the piece Tony was spewing out a fair bit of oil on us, unfortunately he had a problem, otherwise it would've been a three-way dice. Thanks to Shell and to all the other people, and especially Dunlop for our tyres [emphasis mine].

The way Brocky snapped back around, blinked and then flashed a shit-eating grin said the message had got through loud and clear.

All told, after two rounds the ATCC points table had Brock and Bowe equal 1st on 27 points, Jim Richards 3rd on 24, Johnson now 4th on 23. It was shaping up to be an intensely competitive season of tintop racing...