Holden Group C VK Commodore 1984 Bathurst 2nd Place

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The last Great Race for the spectacular Group C category was held in 1984. It was the final year for these famous touring cars which were to be replaced because of the new FIA rules in 1985. HDT’s publicity posters summed it all up as they boasted “The Last of The Big Bangers”.  Rightfully the 1984 James Hardie 1000 had the biggest Group C class ever seen on the mountain, 48 cars from seven different makers.
By the end of unofficial practice the John Harvey / David Parsons HDT 25 car was in the top six or seven, lapping in the 2m: 17s bracket behind Johnson’s Falcon and Brock in the HDT 05 car lapping in the 2m: 15s. Harvey missed the cut for the Saturday Hardie’s Heroes qualifying and had to be prepared to start from eleventh position on the grid.
As the flag dropped on the 1984 Bathurst, to everyone’s amazement it was Fury in the Nissan Bluebird who won the start and edged out Brock into Hell Corner. Before one lap was completed the Great Race was stopped when Tom Walkinshaw’s stationary Jaguar, with a blown clutch on the start, was collected by the Tesoriero Camaro, which eventually blocked the track and caused the race to be restarted. 35 minutes later the flag fell again, this time it was all Brock, in one of his traditionally brilliant opening laps, opening out a significant gap on Johnson at the end of the first lap. Further back there was Grice, Fury, Moffat and Harvey’s 25 car in sixth place.
On lap eleven, Brock led in the HDT Commodore from Johnson, followed by Moffat and Masterton. A scrap between Harvey, Grice and Fury saw Fury pulling a desperate move to pass Grice coming into Hell Corner. Fury ran out of road space and gave Harvey a good shove to make room. It was not long before there were early retirements, Moffat with a seized rotary and Masterton hitting the wall. The lead then settled down to Brock, Johnson, Harvey, Grice and Fury.
Harvey eventually brought the second HDT Commodore in for his scheduled pitstop with minor damage to the rear quarter panel, where Fury had nudged him at Hell Corner. He made a lightning change with team mate David Parsons who rejoined in seventh place. On lap 50, Johnson led from Perkins in the Brock car with David Parsons driving the second HDT car.
The first sign of trouble for the HDT camp came on lap 52 when Parsons running third in the HDT number 25 car, came in to fix a broken gear lever. It took the crew four agonising minutes to refit the gear lever. Parsons stayed in the car and rejoined the race.
Parsons later pitted the 25 car to hand back over to Harvey after a brisk forty second stop, which included a push start. Harvey continued to circulate at a competitive pace and was keeping out of trouble. The 25 HDT Commodore snuck into 2nd spot for the first time on lap 125, but his own pitstop on the next lap dropped him back to fourth spot. Team mate Parsons was strapped into the 25 car and told to “drive the wheels off it” in an all out effort to bring it up to a minor placing. Soon after, the factory Mazda of Greg Hansford made its final pit stop, which gained another place for the 25 car.
In the first 25 laps of his spell Parsons’ 25 car carved 41 seconds off the third placed Jones / Cullen Commodore. The next six laps saw him slash another 18 seconds. It was going to be touch and go for second place, but with only a few laps to go the Jones Commodore staggered into the pits for fuel. The door was now open for the Holden Dealer Team to achieve their first one-two result at Bathurst in 17 years. The pit sign went out immediately to go for the old “one-two” finish. Brock put on the brakes and crawled around the circuit waiting for Parsons to catch up. Finally, down Conrod Straight the two all-conquering ‘day glow red’ cars were racing together, the television was capturing this historic event and the crowd counting down every second to the famous one-two finish.

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