Holden VH Commodore 1982 Bathurst 2nd Place

For the 1982 Bathurst 1000 race all eyes were on Peter Brock, but a realistic prospect of victory was the Allan Grice / Alan Browne Re-Car Racing VH Commodore. Interestingly most of the Commodores in the race were the new VH model, infact 15 in total. This model made its racing debut at the Sandown ATCC in February. Grice could never be underestimated; he won in a VH at Wanneroo and Browne finished in fourth and fifth in the last two great races. The two were well suited, good and steady long distance drivers. In qualifying, Re-car team owner and driver Alan Browne put up a $5,000 reward for the first Touring Car driver to break the 100mph average lap barrier. The Holden Dealer Team had announced Peter Brock to have broken the barrier in qualifying and Browne actually congratulated Brock. However it was revealed that Brock’s time of 2:18.1 wasn’t a 100mph lap.
Ironically it was Browne’s co-driver Allan Grice who pocketed the cash in Friday’s qualifying session with a time of 2:17.8 to set the first ever 100mph lap of the 6.172km Mount Panorama Circuit.
With pole position secured Allan Grice made the best start off the line race day, with Brock hanging on the outside him throughout the first corner. The two Commodores launched into a torrid dice, which was well captured by the HDT in car camera. Grice was able to pass Brock on the hill going up to The Cutting. Their skirmish settled down with the Re-Car ahead. But Allan Grice was having trouble with uneven brake pressure, and spun on lap 11 at Murrays Corner. He was holding Brock at bay up until this point. The spin was without incident and he got back into the race, but Brock had gained a huge lead, stretching to 17 seconds. The race
settled down an hour in and although trailing Brock, Grice enjoyed a 20 second lead on key rivals Bartlet, Harvey and Johnson.
At 1.12pm Grice, still running in second place, handed over the Commodore to owner Alan Browne, hoping he would not lose irretrievable time to the HDT car. Just after 1.30 Brock had completed 89 laps and Browne had slipped one lap down and after 102 relentless laps Harvey managed to pass Browne. A very nervous Grice sat watching, sitting out his mandatory one and a half hours. Browne came into the pits at 2.27pm and with fresh tyres and full tank of fuel, Grice returned to the track to catch Harvey in second place. It was hard, but Grice managed to pass Harvey going up The Cutting. The battle for the flag was now on in earnest. Brock was the best part of a lap up the road and crusing to
his 6th victory.
But Brock was safe and he crossed the finish line to win. Allan Grice took second place but only half a second ahead of Harvey, it was very close. Alan Browne was delighted with the outcome, it was a very welcome result at the time.

Item includes certificate and production number plate, mounted to the chassis.