128 replies to this topic

[frogeye59]

Interesting ABC documentary on the Brock family. From their Family Fortunes series.

http://www.abc.net.a...fortunes/brock/

Glad Aussie broadcasters are not as precious as UK ones who prevent their material being viewed world wide.

Cheers

David

[Ray Bell]

Saw that on TV last week...

It brought out some of the undisguised family quarrels over the memory of a man who'd just 'changed partners' prior to his death. But they did try to keep a balance, with both the major women in the latter part of his life interviewed and given time to express themselves.

Some home truths about the man did come out, though I'm almost surprised that his rough treatment of women wasn't mentioned.

[frogeye59]

It didnt touch on the "doo-lally" polarizer episode either.

Being from suburban Britain I was amazed at the farm, what on earth was he thinking selling such a wonderful property.

David

[Ray Bell]

He owned that with Bev, unless I've missed my guess...

He'd lived with her since the late seventies, so by the time he left her, even though they never married (something that also came out in the show, that she changed her name by Deed Poll to 'Brock'), under our law she would have been entitled to a substantial slice of it on their separation.

Brock probably didn't own much other than that place, and it was worth a fortune, so it would have to be sold to divvy up their assets and let Bev get her share. And I think it was said in the show that he'd changed his will to make his new love the beneficiary, so that would require that it be sold.

I don't think there was much property involved in the place, not more than 20 acres I'd say. I went there a couple of times, once about ten years ago and also just after Geoff died. The timbers in the huge house were from some old warehouses or wharves that had been torn down and were a big feature of the place.

Bev was a leading light in the Polariser episode, of course.

[fbarrett]

Friends:

No confusion with Peter Brock of Shelby Daytona Coupe, windsurfer, and autosport journo-photographer fame, still alive and well and living in the U.S.A. His 1963 Ford Falcon Sedan Delivery (with Cobra angine, suspension mods, etc.), once used as Shelby American's company hack and tow-car, is also alive and well, in the Shelby American Collection in Boulder, Colorado.

Frank

[Ray Bell]

Ironically, the car in which Peter Brock died was styled after the Pete Brock Daytona...

In the meantime there's some discussion here about one of his drives that might be worth remembering.

[Gregor Marshall]

Originally posted by Ray Bell
In the meantime there's some discussion here about one of his drives that might be worth remembering.

Trouble is Ray that if you read the British reports the great driving and the idea of changing the wet tyres was Dad and Gerry Johnstone and if you read the Australian press reports it was Peter Brock's driving and his mechanic friend who came up with the idea to change them. I know my thoughts but not for this thread and as the other thread is quite old I don't want to start it all up again but they undoubtedly both drove fantastically.

Back OT I wonder if this Brock programme will be screened on any UK channels at all, it sounds very interesting and as Peter stayed with my family on several occassions it would be nice to see how he comes across. About 6 months ago I met Craig Brock (via numerous e-mails!!), Peter's nephew, who is very into Opel Kadetts and Vauxhall Chevettes and IIRC lives in New Zealand, Auckland I think.

[Vitesse2]

Gregor: did you not see the "play" button on the left of the page frogeye59 linked to?

It runs in a very small screen and you need to set it for 512k or higher to get a decent resolution, though.

[Gregor Marshall]

Sorry, yes, I did see it but I'd much rather sit down in a comfy chair in front of a nice big telly rather than sit in front of a PC screen that I look at for 10 hours a day. Plus the rest of the family aren't in the 20th century (let alone 21st) when it comes to IT and I know my Mum (Ahhh) would like to see it.

[Derek Pitt]

Speaking internationally and in respect of the USA Brock, wasn't there also an american driver or writer called Brock Yates?

Derek

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by Derek Pitt
Speaking internationally and in respect of the USA Brock, wasn't there also an American driver or writer called Brock Yates?

Writer... yes...

[frogeye59]

Originally posted by Vitesse2
Gregor: did you not see the "play" button on the left of the page frogeye59 linked to?

It runs in a very small screen and you need to set it for 512k or higher to get a decent resolution, though.

And you both missed the button on the right that made it full screen ????????

[thunder427]

Ho Hum !!!,why can't we just 'celebrate' what a 'top' bloke Peter Brock was, so what if his personal life had a few ripples in it,,we the 'Unwashed' really only cared about his next drive, next tricked-up Comodore, next 'autograph seasion, So , why dont we just celebrate his "Celebrity',thats what 'He' enjoyed, we all have made mistakes,less than smart judgement calls, as somebody once wrote;"Doctors bury thier mistakes,Architecs plant trees in front of thiers" !!.............I'm sure Peter would rather have his 'Cloths line' around the back out of site, lets respect that and get on with remembering his 'contribution to Motor Sport..................MJ

[Catalina Park]

Originally posted by thunder427
Ho Hum !!!,why can't we just 'celebrate' what a 'top' bloke Peter Brock was, so what if his personal life had a few ripples in it,,we the 'Unwashed' really only cared about his next drive, next tricked-up Comodore, next 'autograph seasion, So , why dont we just celebrate his "Celebrity',thats what 'He' enjoyed, we all have made mistakes,less than smart judgement calls, as somebody once wrote;"Doctors bury thier mistakes,Architecs plant trees in front of thiers" !!.............I'm sure Peter would rather have his 'Cloths line' around the back out of site, lets respect that and get on with remembering his 'contribution to Motor Sport..................MJ

I agree, lets all just ignore the truth. So what if he knocked a few shielas around, they must have deserved it because Brocky was such a top bloke.

[thunder427]

Kat!!alina; for Heavens sake, I never subjested we Ignore the Mans failings ,I Just "Personally' felt its time to move on, most times I saw Peter at the track, the queue was 2-300 people long and not a 'Womens Right Activist, in sight !!.......this a Motor Sport Forum,Lets focus on the driving !!!

[johnny yuma]

somehow Ray's "rough treatment of women" phrase has morphed into Catalina's "knocked a few sheilas around" which implies something more ugly and physical.Remember if it's not true it's slander,if it's true it's still libel on a public forum so lets s.t.f.u. and talk cars and racing.

[Ray Bell]

My comment, if you go back, was merely to say that 'his rough treatment of women'... something that has been asserted, reported and discussed in every paper and magazine in the country, wasn't mentioned on the TV show...

I said nothing about the truth or otherwise of any claims anyone has made.

[seldo]

Isn't it comforting that all of us are so squeeky clean that none of us has ever done anything that we regret and would like like to change if given the moment over again....

[johnny yuma]

It's always interesting to contemplate the lyrics of the Frank Sinatra classic when the heroes we put on a pedestal fail to live up to our expectations.

eg;

Regrets,I've had a few,

but then again ---

--too few to mention .

or

what is a man
what has he got
if not himself
then he has naught



I DID IT MY WAY.

[Buford]

I personally deny ever knocking around a Sheila. I did punch my brother in the mouth one time and don't regret it at all.

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by Buford
I personally deny ever knocking around a Shiela. I did punch my brother in the mouth one time and don't regret it at all.

Some brothers, as many Australians will assure you, are 'real shielas!'

These are not necessarily the ones who become a 'real old woman!' when they get older...

[275 GTB-4]

Originally posted by Buford
I personally deny ever knocking around a Sheila. I did punch my brother in the mouth one time and don't regret it at all.

Ohhhh?? well how about a women with a name other than Shiela??

I was once beaten up by a much older and bigger girl in school....that taught me not to fight someone with a guardian angel

[cheapracer]

Originally posted by Buford
I personally deny ever knocking around a Sheila. .

But who "knocked up" Sheila?

I did an accessory stand to flog some Piranha Ignitions I was selling through my workshop at a Canberra Motorshow 23 years ago and had the latest Duke Group B (Quattro's, Lancia 037's etc) Rally Video's showing to attract people. Along pops Brocky, pulls up a chair and sat there with me chatting for half an hour - he was genuinely in awe of the WRD Guys and I gained an immense amount of respect for him through that. Another time after the presentation dinner for the Castrol International in which he came 5th place in the RRA Commodore and well into the night, a well known and quite attractive Canberra female navigator came to our table and announced "I just F***ed Peter Brock", obviously a proud moment for her and everybody just had to know.

Geez its over 20 years since they stopped Group B, hell time goes fast

[Ray Bell]

Yes, with reference to Canberra again...

Peter was doing the rounds opening Mobil servos, or appearing at Mobil sites to attract business. One Saturday he was booked in to be at one on the south side of Canberra, somewhere around Gowrie. At the time I was in contact with the sister of an up-and-coming FFord driver of some promise who owned a Turbo VL Commodore 6.

She was hot to trot to go see Brocky, and got his attention too. I don't know to what extent, but I have no doubt that if anything could be arranged it likely was.

[lanciaman]

I got pretty well knocked about by Peggy Boxer when I was 11, for looking down her dress.

And also years later by my wife for looking down someone else's dress.

But if they don't want you to look, why do they wear that stuff?

Pete Brock and Brock Yates are both alive and well in the US. The former is the designer, the latter is the journo and creator of The Cannonball Sea to Shining Sea Memorial Trophy Dash. Of which my friend Steve Yogi Behr is the only person to have driv all of them, winning in a borrowed Cadillac in 1973.

[fredeuce]

Originally posted by johnny yuma
Remember if it's not true it's slander,if it's true it's still libel on a public forum so lets s.t.f.u. and talk cars and racing.

Johnny,
FYI the Defamation Act 2005 was passed passed by each of the States in Australia commencing on 1/1/06.

Section 10 specifically provides that there can be no action for defamation of the dead. Also the common law distinction between libel and slander and all of the attendant difficulties that has given rise to over many decades has now been abolished.Essential reading for any journos, writers, publishers, etc.

As for Brocky himself it appears he was something of a flawed character which simply makes him human. Yes , he acheived a lot in motorsport in Australia however the tendency to deify the man in my opinion seems a bit misplaced.

[Terry Walker]

The old distinction used to be slander was spoken defamation, libel was written defamation. Lots of room for confusion: what about a tape recording of someone saying something defamatory? Or a radio broadcast? And so on.

Also, it used to be that even truth could be defamatory, so truth wasn't necessarily a complete defence.

It was a very messy setup. Nice to see its been simplified a bit since I last opened a law book.

I admired Brock as driver - a natural, fast and clean. But not, despite the nickname, perfect. Bloody good, but not perfect. He was also a natural on TV, too, always a good thing for a professional racing driver. Dick Johnson in his heyday was a natural TV head, too - remember him and his "the curse of the black jellybean"?

[fredeuce]

Originally posted by Terry Walker


Also, it used to be that even truth could be defamatory, so truth wasn't necessarily a complete defence.

Terry,
It was a messy situation. Justification was the basis of the defence. That of course had different formulations in different States. The States where the common law remained allowed truth as a defence or justification. Others where they had attempted to codify the law had additional elements of public interest or public benefit which also had to be proven. Thus whilst the publication was of a true statement, without the additional element established, then the defence of justification failed. Very much a "Russian Roulette" situation for publishers. A much improved regime now.

[johnny yuma]

Is there anyone out there who thinks Peter Brock was perfect ? No? OK -THATS SETTLED THEN.

... But didn't you love the way he didn't spin once in the wet 1972 "500".All the other contenders did.

[Ray Bell]

The 1972 '500'?

He was still married then...

But he did restart the engine once before the fuel cap was replaced. Don't you read the reports?

[David Shaw]

Against 2 starts with the fuel cap off by the main protaganist (or is that antagonist?)

He did drive a great race in '72, but in those conditions I would much rather be in an XU1 than a GT-HO. If you put aside for a moment his great achievements on The Mountain, he was ONE OF the best sedan racers of the seventies and eighties, but with the heavy weight given to victory in the Bathurst 500/1000 in which he has a record that I don't believe will ever be surpassed, he is outstanding.

[stuartbrs]

Whilst we all hate those drivers polls that appear in magazines from time to time, I thought it was quite telling that Motorsport ( or Motor Sport or whatever ) put Peter Brock at number 2 of all time great touring car drivers... this at a time when Australia was beating the UK at just about everything, it said a lot that he held that much respect over there as well as here, especially for a man that spent relatively very little time in Europe.

I wonder, how much the mythology of Bathurst has to do with that..

A friend of mine knew Brock on a name to name basis, and always tells the story of how Brock came rumbling into the bits after winning a race at Sandown ( I`m sorry, I dont know if it was the 500 or not, or even what year ), and the gearbox was obviously completey fruited, David said to him as he drove past "jeez that sounds f**ked Peter", and he replied that indeed it was, or words to that effect. Of course, on the podium, when asked by the TV commentator how the car ran, his reply was "faultlessly"... Proffesional.

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by stuartbrs
Whilst we all hate those drivers polls that appear in magazines from time to time, I thought it was quite telling that Motorsport (or Motor Sport or whatever) put Peter Brock at number 2 of all time great touring car drivers.....

.....A friend of mine knew Brock on a name to name basis.....

As it happens, I knew PB fairly well in the early days too...

When we arranged to get together at the Warwick Farm International meeting in '66, he brought his friends with him. Ken and Al, I'm sorry, I don't remember their names. They came in a lowered 48/215 Holden with more carbies than GM-H might think wise, wide wheels, Fulda radials and a bunch of other stuff.

These were the cars they lived in and lived for. And they made the cars live too. The tales they told me about going out onto the circuit at Tarrawingee (might have been Winton too...) after the meeting, flogging around in the dark and racing each other were hard to believe.

But you had to believe them. They were serious Victorian Holden racing enthusiasts! And, more importantly, Ken and Al simply ceded their manliness to Peter. "We're driving at ten tenths," they both said, "and we can't catch Peter, and he's only driving at seven tenths!" People don't admit their shortcomings easily, but these blokes made it clear that their driving abilities were well behind those of the friend they called 'PB'.

It would be a while before others accepted his superiority. He was still in the army then, but being in the army settled him down and enabled him to learn how to plan and execute a plan. That's when the idea of the A30 gelled. Peter was planning to race his 48/215 before the ballot got him, but with that 'time off' from what he called 'the whirl of day to day living' he changed his direction altogether.

Not only that, he also got to see more circuits, to learn more about the racing that was going on around the country and probably to meet more people. For instance, at Catalina Park in January 1966, the weekend I met him, we watched as Terry Allan put the ex-Brian Muir S4 up onto the Armco on the run up to Craven A. I was with Peter later as he went to inspect the car, a car he'd always held in high esteem as an enthusiastic spectator.

He'd been working at Preston Motors, in the spare parts section I think, before his army days. He told Terry to go and see someone there to get the parts he needed to repair the car.

But when he was discharged from the army he had a different job... Geoff had been wholesaling accessories, driving an old van up and down the highways visiting retailers, when I first met him out at Wattle Glen (let's put aside the story of Peter showing off mum's Viva and lifting rear wheels in it around the back blocks for now...), but when Peter came home the Diamond Valley Speed Shop was up and running.

So there was a means to assist Peter in building the A30, in which Kenny Mitchell (another long-time friend) had a half share. The planned 179 X2 motor was replaced by the triple-SU 186 and the car went ahead with some kind of 'assistance' from the family business. Of course, once it was up and running, Kenny sort of fell to one side and didn't get to race it as planned... he built a Holden-engined Prefect or Anglia (100E shape) for himself.

Amid all of this activity, Peter and Heather were married. Peter's race debut (Winton) was spoiled by fuel starvation, which carried over to the practice day at his second meeting at Hume Weir on Boxing Day 1967. I arrived in the pits to find Geoff wielding a hand drill. "Bloody Poms," he proclaimed, "they think a car can run on fuel going through a union with an eight inch diameter hole. I fixed that!" Fuel starvation was a thing of the past.

So was created the legend... or that's how I saw it being created. In an era when Jack Brabham was winning his third World Championship, with Peter listening in for the race results late on Sunday night as he drove back to Pukapanyal or Kapooka or wherever he was from his weekend with Heather in Melbourne. Tuned in to 3LO, he told me.

It was an era when Pete Geoghegan was a hero, but Beechey was a latent hero to these blokes. They'd readily admit that Pete was the better driver, but they'd cheer for Beechey, probably because they were used to it from his 'PK' and S4 days. Which had not long ended, by the way. It was also an era in which PB could present himself to the officials at Sandown and volunteer to do some flagging, and be given a flag point half way up the back straight... and invite me to join him.

You have to wonder, in this modern age of parental fortunes being spent creating an atmosphere in which kids can become star drivers, whether PB or a whole bunch of others would have made it today. Would the cream really have come to the top?

When we watched the early in-car television stuff with Grice and Morris racing Brock over early laps of Bathurst, saw PB suck them along, push their cars hard to stay with him, then just drop off the pace and let them fight for the lead, we were watching... whether we knew it or not... a strategy that was important to those nine Bathurst wins.

But when we watched him, on that final lap of the 1980 Sandown, pass Moffat on the outside of the esses at Sandown, just to lap him for the seventh time, we were seeing the ego of a giant of the circuits expressing itself in a manner designed to shatter the opposition.

there are some mysteries about the Brock legend. What happened, we should ask, to the piston that let go in his Bathurst car in 1974? Six laps in the lead, doing it easy, pitted, returned to the track and almost immediately bathed the circuit in oil smoke.

"Detonation," Phil Irving said when asked to analyse the damaged bits the following week. "But why?" he was asked. He couldn't answer that. Nor could the engine's very experience builder, nor anybody else.

But that blowup was the key to enabling the GM-H mammoth to sack him that year. A year tainted by the Michelle Downs affair. Could there be a connection?

And, of course, there's the mystery of the simple stupid crash that killed him. The mystery of why he could be so incomprehensibly attractive and charming on the one hand, so uncompromisingly abusive of some on the other.

For me, I think the answer lies in his self-control. He never showed, as we see in Stuart's post, his dismay with things, he controlled himself to toe the company line, to get the perfect line, to take a car to its limit and not overstep it, to stand for hours signing autographs and many other things.

I did see him boil over once, maybe about 1978, when things weren't going right at an Oran Park meeting. It was almost frightening to see the anger he generated.

But sometimes, perhaps, he had to just unwind. Could that be the answer? I don't think it is altogether, as I saw other things, but it could well be a part of it.

I would be very keen to have a talk to Karen McPherson today...

[stuartbrs]

Great post Ray.

[Amaroo Park]

There is a new tell all book about Brock written by Wayne Webster.

Unfortunately I believed them when they said that it was a tell all book about Brock, So I parted with my money.

It was just another rose coloured glasses hero worship job written for for those who still genuflect at the mention of his name. Lots of things left out on the book but like mention of the first marriage.

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by Amaroo Park
There is a new tell all book about Brock written by Wayne Webster.....

Webster? Really? The child journo of 1979? It was all over before he came along!

.....It was just another rose coloured glasses hero worship job written for for those who still genuflect at the mention of his name. Lots of things left out on the book but like mention of the first marriage.

What was the mention of the first marriage?

[Amaroo Park]

The only mention was that he was engaged to a woman named Karen at the same time as he became engaged to Michelle Downes. That was the first marriage mentioned in it.

[Ray Bell]

Well, on 19th August 1967 he married Heather Russell...

It was after Heather left him that he did some time with other women, Karen, Christine and Michelle being the primary ones, all of these relationships are mentioned in The Rise & Fall of Peter Brock (Tuckey).

[johnny yuma]

Anyone got a story from the pits at end of the 1985 Bathurst battle between the ailing Jaguars and the Brock/Harvey and circus
team of Commodores (sans roller rockers or double row timing chains) ,kicking out windscreens,going hell for leather but not making it. True grit indeed but I hear they all shot through like a Bondi and said little.

Still my favourite Bathurst of alltime. Especially love Whining "Hollywood" Goss interviews.

[Amaroo Park]

The claytons DNF, the DNF you have when the car doesnt actual fail

[brucemoxon]

Originally posted by Amaroo Park
The claytons DNF, the DNF you have when the car doesnt actual fail

Indeed. A mate of mine (now sadly deceased) allegedly sold HDT the double-row timing chain and sprockets. It was a stocked item at Fabre at the time. Is it safe to say that? I got a spray by phone off the Great Man when I wrote that he crashed at Amaroo Park in 1984 'cause he was going too fast, that Sharyn McKay's soap suds had nothing to do with it.

Still, it was a great drive and the fudge wasn't a performance advantage, merely reliability.



Bruce Moxon

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by brucemoxon
.....the fudge wasn't a performance advantage, merely reliability.

That can never be true...

Give a car parts that will allow it to run safely to 7,500 rpm when 6,500 was all it could manage before... and guess what?

Certainly this is the case with engine parts. Less so with, say, stronger axles or better gearbox bearings.

[Lee Nicolle]

HDT would not have had to go to Fabre for double row chain sets. 308s used doublerow until VKs where the GM beancounters saved about 25c per engine with those crap single row.
Mind you Fabre probably would have had better quality tru roller chain sets.

[Amaroo Park]

I have heard of people who saw and heard the 05 car started and driven around to the padock AFTER it came in with a broken timing chain. Now weather that is myth or not I dont know but more than a few paople have said it on different occasions.

[DJH]

I heard the same report from someone who said they saw it happen. Famous rumour that one.

[stuartbrs]

So, rumour it is, can anyone put this 1985 Bathurst myth to rest...

I only saw it on TV, and remember ( according to the race commentary ) that Brock was catching Goss... did HDT know that the seat in the Goss Jag had come adrift..? I cant remember the gaps or anything, but have a hunch that by today`s standards, the gap was quite large still at the closing stages of the race.

[David Shaw]

Reading Bill Tuckey's James Hardie 1000 1985/86, it says that after Brock came in to get the rear screen kicked out and it all settled down again, it was lap 138 and Brock was about 2 minutes behind Goss.

Lap 150 and Brock was 38 seconds behind with 13 laps to go and gaining about 2 seconds per lap even when Goss upped the pace.

A lap later Walkinshaw passed Brock to enable him to play tailgunner.

By lap 160 when Brock pulled out, it was 32 seconds. So Brock couldn't have caught him, it appears his attack was thwarted by Walkinshaw's strategy of protecting Goss, as on lap 155 he had the gap down to 26 seconds.

[Ray Bell]

And from the 1960 - 1999 book:

The lap times for the leading Jaguar came down by a precious second or two a lap. Just to remind everybody how fast the Jaguars really were. Walkinshaw thundered past Ravaglia, Richards and Brock in absurdly easy style. Brock would finish second with honor.

Or would he? After 160 lap, Brock coasted in, the engine dead. If ever a man had seemed to have the red mist in his eyes, it was Peter Brock at Bathurst '85. One could forgive him if he was a little overwhelmed by the events of the last hour or so. Within a few seconds, this remarkable man was giving an extraordinarily calm and sportsmanlike interview over the public address at the track, saying he had given it his best shot for the Australian car, but it just hadn't been good enough on the day.

Much of the post race attention centred on Brock. Two myths grew up out of his 1985 race. The first that he was running a cheater engine, and discreetly retired just before the end to avoid scrutineering. The second was that he had the race in his pocket when the car failed him.

Both myths were just that; they were factually wrong. As to the first, the car was cleared by a CAMS inspection. As to the second, Goss had kept the gap at 30 seconds, give or take a few seconds in traffic, and Brock could not under any circumstances have caught him by lap 163. Nothing should detract from a very fast and consistent drive under difficult conditions by John Goss and Armin Hahne.

I don't totally agree with that, or at least on the face of what's said. Pre-race scrutiny doesn't include checking timing chains. Never. Unless there was a special 'CAMS inspection' that had checked for the timing chain discrepancy it would never have been confirmed or denied.

Of course, these blokes had been running the weak timing chain for race after race, they could probably have developed driving techniques (read: 'careful you don't do this...') that would protect them most of the time. But with the drive Brock had to put in under these circumstances, there's no doubt that such precautions would have gone out the window.

As for sightings of the car being driven through the pits just after the race, I would have to say, simply, "No way!" If they didn't have a broken chain and were pretending they did, then the care taken to avoid being found out would be very great.

[stuartbrs]

But Ray, up untill the 500 the races the HDT Commodore drove were much shorter affairs, did Bathurst at that time put significantly more strain on the engine than say a round at Lakeside? I have no idea, just a question.

Also, as an observer, can you give some kind of estimate as to the budget HDT had compared to other Commodore teams? I remember reading that the open cheque book from Holden was no more by 1986, but what about 1985?

It would be fantastic, if an HDT mechanic or someone close, could perhaps shed an insight into Bathurst 1985... a round which had its beginings in that infamous start line shunt of 1984...

As an aside, I was always a fan of those JPS BMW`s... I was only 14... from memory, was it 1985 that Frank Gardners squad was hampered by sabotaged fuel...? All I remmeber was it was the 635`s that were hobbled, not M3`s.. must have been 85 or 86.

I remember, when dad took me off to the first GP in Adelaide in 1985, looking through a fence somewhere, to see all the smashed up cars from the previous ATCC round... I remember a BMW, an Alfa, and some Commodores.. all bent, but they still took them there, and I remember John Harvey being in the area as well.

What a fantastic era... compared to today.

[Lee Nicolle]

What can happen is that the chain stretches so badly it then jumps a tooth and the power goes away badly, or tthe valves start tapdancing on the pistons. Those chains did not always break, just stretched very badly. They actually did it in road cars that had a few RPM occasionally.
They used double row gears with a single row chain. It was just plain dumb by GMH to sell cars like that yet alone try and use them on race engines with a lot more lift and valvespring [and RPM]
There has been plenty of instances where GMH have made some dumb engineering decisions, read Harry's comments about L34 development.