Everybody has their favourite things, which usually stem from some sort of childhood experience, exposure or desires. For me almost anything motorsport related from the mid to late 80's will always get my attention. For me, The now abandoned FIA sanctioned Group A and the Monster Group B formulas were the epitome of all things motorsport. Group A was always my favourite due to the Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) being broadcast on Channel 7 on Saturdays. I can still remember the many times my Mum would tell me off for watching it and to get outside and play as the weather was nice.
As with everyone who loves Grp. A, There were some standout car/driver combos. Back when you're a kid, results or round wins, didn't always help with picking your favourite driver, but the car played a big part. The Colours of the livery, the stance of the car, the style of wheels, the sound it made and how it looked bumping over the ripple strips helped me decide my favourite cars and drivers at the time. If the driver won, that was alright too!
Jim Richards was a child hood hero of mine, he always drove the cool cars. The Winfield R32 GTR, The John Player Special BMW E30 and the Gibson Motorsport HR31. To add to this, the announcers always spoke of Gentleman Jim and he seemed to win a lot. I can agree that Jim is a Gentleman. I had the chance to meet Jim at our Car Club (Skylines Australia - QLD) Christmas dinner at Lakeside Park Raceway. He was more than happy to have a chat and to pose for a photo with me. Cheers Jim!
Dick Johnson was the Aussie Battler, who seemed to be able to screw together a fast and usually reliable race car. The car that sticks in my mind is the Shell Sierra Cosworth. It was fast and red, which made it faster! His Sierra was and still is a desirable race car. it had everything a Group A car needed. It looked aggressive, yet subtle enough to almost pass as a roadcar. Bonnet vents, flares, wings, BBS wheels. The whole package.
My favourite cars of the era would have to be the Sierra Cosworth RS500, the E30 BMW and only for the sake that it looked cool the Mitsubishi Starion.
To be honest, I still love all things that are true to form for Group A. Big power (for the time), factory aero, race seats, simple roll cages, sticky rubber, box guards and light weight wheels. From this, many Brands that where used by the various race teams also made it into the factory offered sports cars of the time. Brands such as Recaro, BBS and Momo. It wasn't uncommon to find cars that had Race inspired accessories, like factory or even dealer fitted Bodykits, Recaro interiors and BBS or BBS Styled wheels.
What has all this got to do with my car? One of the reasons I bought the TX5 was that it was a late 80's Japanese mid sized tourer with sports car styling. The interior of the TX5 Turbos was typically 80's with a palette of grey. The steering wheel was an exposed spoke design, the seats were based off Recaros. The exterior had a certain Sierrra Cosworth profile and shared body stylings with the European XR3 and the local TX3.
The inspiration for my car comes from the styling side of Group A and the accessories that followed into the production version and non-Group A models, Factory fitted Aero, Recaros and BBS wheels.
Stay tuned.
No comments:
Post a Comment