The first season of the Castrol GTX series was a brutal affair — Stephen tells the story

Words Steve Holmes
Photos Terry Marshall, Garry Price, Bruce Dyer, Peter Hanna Collection

New Zealand may not have had its own car manufacturing companies, but it did once have a very strong car assembly industry, with motor sport endurance events taking place for New Zealand assembled cars which spawned many local specials not available anywhere else in the world. The jewel in the crown was the annual 500 mile race, held at Pukekohe, and sponsored by Benson & Hedges (B&H) cigarettes. Initially a six hour enduro, and sponsored by Wills, the event soon caught on with local manufacturers, car dealers, and importers, and quickly became the biggest motor sport event for production cars in New Zealand.

the biggest turnout of Z28 Camaros was entered with Baker, McKee, Allen, Tulloch, McNamara, and the old Crichton car, now owned by George Bunce

However, if the B&H endurance events had a downside, it was that they didn’t allow for the high performance Australian specials which were built to win the 500-mile Bathurst event, as they were not assembled locally. Races for those cars took place in New Zealand as soon as early HK Monaros began appearing on our roads, but were more sideshows than main events. Finally, Castrol Oils announced it would be sponsoring a new series for the 1972 New Zealand racing season, a series which embraced the Aussie Bathurst specials.

Castrol GTX

The first season of the Castrol GTX series was a brutal affair. A young Jim Richards won the series, after building an early points buffer in his McMillan Falcon GT-HO Phase III. But early race wins were split evenly between the several tyre shredding GT-HOs and the more nimble Torana XU-1s, before Timaru racer Leo Leonard gave a taste of things to come, winning a spate of late season races in his E38 Charger. Leonard’s end of season momentum suggested the Chargers may be the car to have for 1973, and so it proved.

Chrysler Australia’s new four-speed E49 simply cleaned up. Those not running Chargers either quickly swapped brands, or became mere grid fillers. Ford arranged for Allan Moffat to come across from Australia to compete at Wigram, bringing with him one of the all-conquering GT-HOs which had dominated Australian production racing for the last two years. He was, naturally, expected to bring a halt to the Charger steamroller, but Leonard blew him away in practice, qualifying 1.1 seconds faster, and led the Canadian-Aussie during the early laps before the pair of them retired with their own dramas. Following their exit, the E49s of Ron Rutherford and Rod Coppins grabbed the top spots. The GT-HO was quietly sent home after it was again bombarded by the Chargers at Teretonga, Timaru, and Ruapuna, now driven by Jim Richards.

It seemed the only way to stop the flying Chargers was to outlaw them, which is what happened. As the rules favoured the Aussie Bathurst specials, and since Australia had changed to Group C from 1973, it became clear there would not be another production car capable of dealing to the Charger E49 on New Zealand turf any time soon, so the rules were simply re-written to outlaw them.

New Rules

The 1974 Castrol GTX series saw a new set of rules, and new race format, but the new look didn’t enjoy the same following as the one it replaced. The new rules outlawed the Bathurst specials, but heavily favoured Ford’s XA GT four-door sedan, and a gaggle of these cleaned up the silverware. Jim Richards, Inky Tulloch, Robbie Francevic, Wayne Murdoch and Tony Warren all campaigned very fast XA GTs. Richards won the series both years, but interest was at a new low. Again, the rules were given a full make-over, and for 1976 New Zealand would have what it considered its own version of Australia’s Group C.

The jewel in the crown was the annual 500 mile race, held at Pukekohe

Like Group C, teams were allowed to make a limited number of modifications, to wheels, brakes, exhaust systems, and suspension. The favoured car for the ’76 season was the second generation Z28 Camaro, which was appearing in increasing numbers in endurance type events. Heading into the season Dave Baker, Art McKee, Doug Allen, and Neville Crichton were all piloting thundering Z28 Camaros. Crichton’s car, previously raced by Red Dawson, had taken a few endurance race wins during 1975, with Crichton teaming up with Jim Richards. The Camaros’ only real competition was Rod Coppins (1970, and 1973 New Zealand Saloon Car Champion), driving the Torana L34 he and Jim Richards had driven to an impressive third at Bathurst in 1974. A raft of booming E49 Chargers, orphaned from the original GTX guise of the ’72 and ’73 era, made up the big-engined class numbers, but struggled against the US V8s.

Baker got his campaign off to a great start, winning round one at Manfeild in October 1975, and heading home the similar car of McKee. The other Camaros of Crichton and Allen both succumbed to mechanical failures, Crichton a blown engine, Allen gearbox trouble. Round 2 at Bay Park a week later saw the powerful Camaros struggle with reliability, as the hot pace they were setting became their downfall. The best of the Camaros was Crichton, who placed second in the first of the two weekend races.

On to round three, and the open stretches of Pukekohe suited the powerful Z28s, with McKee getting some momentum going with his campaign, beating Allen, while Baker blew an engine. Baker again beat McKee and Allen at Levin, then again at Manfeild. Harry Holt debuted another Z28 Camaro at the Levin round. The red Big Brother Racing Camaro of Baker appeared unstoppable at this stage, as McKee blew an engine. Two more wins at the two-race Bay Park round, against McKee’s second and third, further drew Baker away from his rivals. This round was notable for the arrival of both Inky Tulloch and Kevin McNamara, debuting their Z28 Camaros.

Pukekohe

January 3, 1976, and the Castrol GTX show returned to Pukekohe, where the biggest turnout of Z28 Camaros was entered with Baker, McKee, Allen, Tulloch, McNamara, and the old Crichton car, now owned by George Bunce. However, the race turned out to be a car breaker, with Baker, Bunce, and McNamara all failing to finish, while Tulloch didn’t even start, suffering a blown diff in practice.

McKee won the Pukekohe round. From there the circus took to the South Island, and the McKee/Tulloch war began. Tulloch won at Wigram, narrowly heading off McKee and Baker. At Teretonga the GTX cars were given two races, McKee won the first, Tulloch the second. Tulloch damaged his clutch after leaving the track in race one, while Baker retired with engine trouble, failing to finish the second race. This meeting marked the first appearance in the series for yet another Camaro, this an ex McKee car, now owned by Bob Farrar.

On to Timaru, and the McKee/Tulloch battle continued, the pair taking one win, and one second place each, both finishing the weekend heavily battle scarred. Baker finished third on both occasions, but the title was slipping into the clutches of McKee who, despite his on-track battles with Tulloch, was clocking up the points. By this stage the battles continued off the track as well as on, as both Tulloch and McKee were protested, Tulloch over his wheels, McKee his radiator. Allen finished both Timaru races in fifth, one place better than Farrar. The series then travelled north to Ruapuna, then Manfeild, where McKee finally wrapped up the title.

Outrageous costs

It had been a turbulent season. In fact, McKee couldn’t even claim to be the Castrol GTX champion, despite winning several races outright. The title was awarded to Porsche driver Lin Neilson, thanks to a points system based on class results. Neilson, running a different class to the V8s, sped around, merrily gathering up untroubled points against little class opposition, and was awarded the outright title. McKee could only claim to be Unlimited Class champion.

The racing was good, but the costs outrageous. The top teams were spending $1000 per meeting, a lot of money in 1976. Prize money for first place was about 10 per cent of that! The increasing number of protests over supposed illegal cars took its toll on teams, and frustration reigned. Also, MotorSport New Zealand had little interest in nurturing the class, as open-wheelers and the Shell Sport series were its main priorities. The Castrol GTX series was but a support category.

The racing was good, but the costs outrageous. The top teams were spending $1000 per meeting, a lot of money in 1976

But imagine what might have been had someone seen the potential the class had. The crowds enjoyed the thundering V8s, and the intense racing, while the cars themselves, particularly the Camaros and Coppins’ Torana, were exotic to most Kiwi punters, and harked back to the glorious Group 2 and Group 5 days of the late ’60s and early ’70s. The class needed a major cash injection, and perhaps a few top-running V8 Fords for the blue-oval fans to cheer on. It needed to be nurtured. But history shows the series continued down the bumpy road it had started out on in 1972.

Art McKee had had enough, he found the uncertainty over the rules, and the hassles over protests, to be not worth the trouble. He imported a Chevy Monza, and went sports sedan racing. Dave Baker had stretched his finances too far, and sold up. Rod Coppins also withdrew from the series, and sold his Torana. Tulloch won the 1977 Castrol GTX series. His main opposition was Allen in McKee’s ’76 championship-winning car, but the Camaros were appearing in smaller numbers than the previous year, and without Coppins, they had no competition other than each other. But they could still put on a show for the crowds.

MotorSport New Zealand then decided to outlaw the Camaros, deeming them too expensive. It introduced a 3000cc engine limit, so those running in the top class had to go elsewhere to race their machines. Then the decision was overturned, following pressure from the track promoters, who understood the value in the big V8s. This all took its toll. The only Camaro to compete in the 1978 Castrol GTX championship was that of Bob Farrar, who entered only the Wigram round, and was easily the quickest on the track. Following the ’78 season, Castrol announced it would withdraw from the series.