Holden VK Commodore 1986 Bathurst

As Allan Moffats’ 1985 season came to a close, he still didn’t have any race deals lined up. At about the same time, Peter Brock and the Holden Dealer Team were working on expanding their efforts to include the European Touring Car Championship (ETCC) for Group A cars. They were in need of another experienced hand to help with all the extra work. Despite their previous stance as racetrack foes, Allan was an obvious choice for the HDT to recruit. He had raced overseas successfully many times and had a wide range of international contacts. Allan signed to do development work and co-drive in the team’s 5-litre V8 Commodores. A long standing HDT crew member had been reported to object, "But he's not one of us", to which Peter Brock had replied, "He is now." To say that the combination was formidable was something of an understatement. Between them they had won 46 percent of all Great Races, and 43 percent of all ATCC races.
During practice on the Friday, Allan Moffat lost the Commodore when his right rear wheel went into a rut at the edge of the track that had developed due to rain, instantly sending him left and catapulting him at considerable speed into the barrier, with the front wheels coming to rest on top. It caused extensive front end damage. He was lucky he didn’t go over the barrier. The Holden mechanics had a major re-build and they did a magnificent job, twenty-one hours after the crash it was fixed and back on the circuit ready for the start.
The 1986 James Hardie 1000 was the 27th running of the Bathurst Touring Car race. It was held on October 5th, 1986 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst. Peter Brock and Allan Moffat in their Holden Dealer Team, VK Commodore had qualified in 11th position after missing the top 10 shoot out. Upon commencement of the race, the big movers in the first few laps of the race were the HDT cars. From 11th and 13th on the grid, they were running second and fourth by lap three. On lap 77, Moffat came hustling into the pits, splitting the oil cooler as he bounced over the new speed humps in pit lane. The crew, which had helped with the magnificent job to rebuild the car after Friday's shunt, set to work to by-pass the oil cooler. Brock rejoined the race to be in 7th place. With another driver change mid race and then a final change where Moffat gave the HDT car back to Brock, who for the second year in a row, set out on an end of race charge to the finish line. But despite the push, he crossed the line after 162 laps in 5th place.
Interestlingly, the race suffered its first fatal accident in 1986 where Mike Burgmann, travelling at 268 km/h down Conrod Straight slammed into the bank protecting the JPS bridge. As a result they added the Caltex Chase to reduce the length of time cars travelled at high speed and with the addition of the Chase, the number of laps was reduced to 161.

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