50 replies to this topic

[Amaroo]

Following on from my John Goss thread, I though I would ask about Colin Bond. Bondy always struck me as being a really nice bloke and I have very rearly heard a bad word about him until recently with the V8 Touring car drivers gripping about his desicions.

I remeber seeing what I still rate as the best touring car drive ever at the AGP support race in 1989 when Bondy came from nowhere to be challanging Longhurst for the lead in torental rain in his Caltex CXT Sierra. That he was so car controlled in one of those Sierra's in the wet speaks volums I believe

Now Bondy was a top line touring car driver, also a brilliant rally driver and I believe he had some outings in open wheelers in a F5000.

So my question is How good was he and is he as underated as I believe he is? And is he as nice a person as came across?

Thanks
Andrew

[Ray Bell]

Generally, all those things...

Maybe more so, when it comes to rally driving. John Dawson-Damer, who navigated for him, thought so. D-D also navigated for other top drivers, so had some idea, but the pinnacle was the quote he liked to tell people about from a British TV interview of a top line WRC rally driver... I don't remember who... on being asked who was the best rally driver he'd seen, he immediately replied, "Colin Bond!"

And nobody knew who he was talking about!

I recommend that anyone who wants to know why he said it check up on the Heatway event in NZ in 1973 (or was it 1972?) where CB drove a Torana back through the field on stage after stage after striking rear brake problems...

Strangely, though, you mention his 1989 Adelaide race... Colin himself reckoned he was over the hill at thirty!

And you know, I believe it. That was during '72-'73, after that he always seemed to be rather burned out. He was, after all, rallying and racing virtually all the time during those early years with the HDT...

But he did set the fastest time in the wet practice session at Warwick Farm in his only drive of a F5000...

[LittleChris]

Ray,

Slightly off topic, but is that the same JDD that sadly died at Goodwood a couple of years ago in the Lotus 63 ? I believe he was quite influential in Aussie motorsport, is that the case ?

Chris

[Ray Bell]

One and the same...

D-D was on some CAMS committees, principally in the Historic sphere, but he may also have been involved in rallying ones as well.

John Medley may have more detail.

[SennasCat]

I also remember a demo run that Bondy did in late-70s or early-80s when he took his rally Escort to a Sydney speedway and ended up with an embarassingly fast time when compared to the dedicated speedway cars on the night. His car control was brilliant...

[MattFoster]

Bondy was my hero as a Kid and I stil think he is the best driver Australia has ever produced.

A real Jack of all trades, but in his case a master of all of them.

[howl]

The first time I became aware of Colin Bond was during TV-broadcasting of the 1987 ATCC. Sitting in northern Europe during the cold, damp winter months of 1987/88 it was something else to see what was happening on the other side of the globe. The entire series, minus Sandown for some reason, but including the James Hardie 1000 was shown in 1 hour highlights with Mike Raymond, Neil Crompton and others, like racing racing-reporter Allan Grice, commentating.

This was the year of the World Touring Car Championship, and it showed in the cars. BMW M3’s against Ford Sierra’s, plenty of Holden Commodore’s and those strange (to Europeans) Nissan Skyline’s driven by a host of young and old touring car stars, of whom I at best had only a brief knowledge of – and then there were the odd one out in the beautifully presented red and black Caltex-Alfa 75 Turbo, by the name of Colin Bond.

Every race seemed to have the spotlight on Bondy for a few moments, like when he was lapped by the leaders or mid-season when the commentators were able to conduct post-race interviews with him, while his competitors were still racing! Although he and the team seemed to work hard (like switching the car from left to right hand drive in between), with very little reward, he always seemed cheerful about it while he told of what went wrong this time and what they intended to modify, change or develop for the next race.

Watching him racing that car made it somewhat difficult to rate him as a driver, but the fact he was able to win a pair of races with the Sierra later on, he must have been a fair driver even though he must have been in his latter 40’s by the time.
Furthermore I reward him second price in the “most-rotten-luck-of-the-Sierra-pack-at-Bathurst”catagory beaten by Glenn Seton. Bond’s 3rd and 5th in 1988 removed him of a real shot at this title.


Nice line of threads Amaroo. Searching on the net for some of the older stars (pre-internet) usually turns up few results.

Jesper O.H.

[racer69]

Apparently the problem with the '87 Sandown round was that there was a cameraman strike which prevented Channel 7 from showing the round, though they were able to show bits of the race from Racecam inside Allan Grice's Commodore, as the guys in the main van weren't on strike.

On Bondy, one of his great efforts was in the 1990 Australian Touring Car Championship. In a car not as developed (due to funding) as some of the other cars, he won the Lakeside round and the Malalla round, and went into the last round of the championship at Oran Park with a chance of coming out national champion, Godzilla got the best of everyone that day though.

Also, after a year of retirement from motorsport in 1994, he returned for the enduro's with the Gibson Motorsport Holden Commodore alongside Anders Olofsson, and came in 6th at Bathurst. I think he ran a Hyundai Lantra in that years Wellington Asia-Pacific Touring Car Championship round as well didn't he?

[howl]

Thanks for replying on the missing ’87 Sandown event racer69. After posting the question I stumbled upon the answer on ten-tenths, in a thread started days before by …Racer69!

I’m not so sure about his one-year retirement. He did end his Sierra period at the end of ’92, but after that I remember him in a 5 door Caltex-Toyota Corolla in the early days of Australian Super Touring (racing among the V8’s and the B&H M3’s). The Hyundai deal was mentioned in a contemporary Autosport, and suggested that it was for a full season of development and racing, but not sure about that either.

Now, let me hear some more about Colin Bond, like, what did he do after his days with Allan Moffat and the group A Alfa of 1985? I have heard something about Ford Capri’s in the period.

Jesper O. Hansen

[Beejay17]

Going across to Moffat in '77 brought Colin into contact with Ford Australia. It would be interesting to know the machinations, but when he wasn't busy driving for Moffat, he set up and ran an official works Escort team for them. George Smith, who had been his Holden mechanic in Sydney, stayed as part of the deal and also got involved when the Moffat team needed extra hands. That's how he got burned during the Moffat Bathurst pit fire of '78.

Greg Carr became the other driver in the Escort team and this continued after Colin left Moffat at the end of '78. I seem to recall that the rally team continued through to 1980 and in 1979 he may have raced the Thompson Ford XC Hardtop at Bathurst? In (I think) 1981, builder Jim Masterton started up a Capri team for his son Steve. Colin came on board and drove the second car at ATCC and Better Brakes (Amaroo Park) rounds and Bathurst. In 1982 Masterton went to an XE Falcon V8 but I don't think Colin was directly involved, just did a test drive at Bathurst. Then in the early '80s (1983?), he co-drove with Grice's STP (Roadways Racing?) Commodore team. I'd have to check my books for further detail.

In 1985, Australia went to Group A and Colin set up the Alfa team.

[Ray Bell]

One item not mentioned is the team of Ford Cortinas built for the 1979 Repco Round Australia trial. Colin built them using the 6-cyl 4.2-litre version 4-speeds, but in my opinion went too hard in the suspensions and they pounded themselves into submission.

That event was dominated by the Commodores with the 3.3-litre six, and they had gone the other way, supple suspensions to let the cars work and keep their wheels on the road. And stay in one piece.

[Beejay17]

Originally posted by Ray Bell
That event was dominated by the Commodores with the 3.3-litre six, and they had gone the other way, supple suspensions to let the cars work and keep their wheels on the road. And stay in one piece.

Which one piece was that Ray? Legend had it that the Commodores were rebuilt so many times that even the rocks on the road had Holden part numbers. But it WAS very well executed by Holden.

[SennasCat]

Or as it was unkindly known in the time, the Repco Repairability Trial...

Wasn't the XC the car the Bondy used to refer to as the Catholic car, because it went OK on every day except race day, refusing to work on Sunday??

[Mark Beckman]

Originally posted by Beejay17


Which one piece was that Ray? Legend had it that the Commodores were rebuilt so many times that even the rocks on the road had Holden part numbers. But it WAS very well executed by Holden.

Legend differs from people who actually were there and did it, the Commodores did very well and naturaly had components such as struts replaced often at service points as all works teams can afford to do, the heavily sprung (XD Falcon leaf spring rear ends grafted into place) shook themselves to peices and a problem was that Bond was competing and team manager and with the unbeleivable schedual that all had to follow for the 2 weeks, it was felt that Bond was unable to do his job properly and failed the team there. When he retired and could concentrate on Greg Carrs Cortina things turned around rapidly with spectacualr results and reliablity all the way down the East Coast - albeit too late. Had Bond been team manager only and not also competitor things may have been different as time (or lack of it) was the biggest enemy all teams had.

The first time I met Bond was on the 1973 Southern Cross Rally where he started 5 cars back from my Dad and I met him many more times over the next 10 years at rallys. Nice Guy usually light - serious personality, always seems to be thinking of something.

Somewhere I have one of his famous leather caps that he and Harry Firth wore in those days.

[Barry Lake]

If you want to get me REALLY upset, start telling these legends (spelled "lies" or "bullshit") about the Holden Commodores in the 1979 Repco Round Australia Trial. (Was it approx 10,000 miles, 16,000 km in 14 days - from memory only).

I was teamed with Rauno Aaltonen and Shekhar Mehta in the car that finished third outright in this Holden 1-2-3. And I can tell you that those cars were remarkably close to standard. I have since been re-acquainted with one of them and was very much reminded of this. If you ever have the opportunity to look at this surviving car you will see what I mean.

The in-line six-cylinder engines were built to Holden Torana XU-1 Bathurst specifications, but with (I was told) a milder (or early version, or Bathurst compared to sprint race, perhaps) camshaft for better low down torque and greater reliabilty. So the engine had been proven in Bathurst results.

Shocks and springs were upgraded, but were again aimed at simplicity rather than out and out performance. The roll cages were bolted in, not made as part of the structure. Only mods to the body were extra welding (not fully seam welded, though) and they had extra thickness material where the rear shocks were mounted on the body - I think also at the top of the front struts.

Gearboxes and diffs were standard XU-1 type competition ware as used in races and rallies throughout the 1970s and therefore well proven. Nothing particularly special about them, however.

The fairytales about multiple replacement of struts were just that - fairytales.

I kept a log of all the problems with our car. Going from memory here, without time to dig it out, but well-established memories.

The start was in Melbourne and we ran around Australia clock-wise. Adelaide was the first major stop and the front struts were removed from our car and replaced with spares (pretty sure all three cars, but certain about ours). These struts were flown to Perth where they were stripped down, checked and re-assembled. When we arrived in Perth, these original struts were replaced and the second (Adelaide-Perth) set rebuilt and kept as spares. The struts were never touched again.

George Shepheard, the team manager, was concerned about the ability of the oil in the limited slip differentials being able to last the distance. Rather than drain and replace the oil, he planned to replace the differentials in all three cars at approximately half distance. Easiest way to do this was to replace the entire rear axle unit (live axle) complete. Brock's car got the first one, in Port Hedland, WA. The Ferguson/Bell/Boddy car got its diff somewhere around Mount Isa in Queensland. George told us he was going to change ours at Townsville, Queensland. Since ours was running perfectly, both Rauno and I asked to keep the original. Both of us had been caught in the past with replacing perfect parts with new ones that had an unexpected problem. But George insisted. It was fitted in Townsville and - sure enough - there was something missing from the handbrake mechanism, so we had no handbrake thereafter. That was a handicap, because we used it often to get around hairpin bends and for setting up the car at other times.

The only problems we had with our car were:

Somewhere after Broken Hill, the retaining ring for one front shock absorber unscrewed out of the strut. We had to screw it back in beside a bush track, using a tree branch as a spring compressor. They apparently hadn't been "loc-tited". These had come loose in the Ferguson car and fixed at a service point, but we had not been told of this, so had not checked ours.

After Perth, in WA, we lost the use of our clutch. They were mechanical, cable-operated clutches and the pressure plate was a heavy-duty unit, putting extra load onto the firewall, where the cable was located, Our cable simply punched a bigger hole through the firewall! Eventually, in some outback town in WA, one of the mechanics on the service crew found what I think was a bicycle sprocket at the local wrecking yard that had the right sized hole. This was attached to the cable and firewall and the clutch worked again.

Somewhere in Queensland, we had a problem with the throttle linkage becoming sticky. At a service point, a mechanic found a broken spring inside one of the two carburettors, replaced it and that was the end of that.

In Victoria, only a day or so away from the finish, there was a screaming noise came from, it seemed, the gearbox. It was for all the world like a seized bush or bearing and our hearts sank. We were in the forests, far from any assistance. But the noise went away and we never heard it again. It might have been mud packed around the tailshaft, or a stone jammed in there for a while, or something silly like that.

Otherwise. The cars gave no problems whatsoever. And there were no precautionary replacement of parts other than those mentioned her-in. So ignore all the invented stories you might have heard or read. I know of no major problems with either of the other cars, although I drove the Ferguson car shortly after the event and its clutch was slipping. But that could have been done loading it onto a truck after the event. Barry Ferguson told me it hadn't slipped during the event.

Peter Brock's car, I just remembered, had something break in a front strut or hub and lost a wheel, in WA, in a dry creek crossing. With the legendary Brock luck, they were in a situation where help and spare parts were at hand. Peter also had a couple of tries at damaging the car, balancing it on its nose after a jump near Coober Pedy, trying to drive over a cliff in a forest in northern NSW, but escaped pretty much unscathed both times.

So, how did these cars beat the far more highly modified Fords? Planning, organisation, starting preparation early, testing extensively, fixing only the problems, avoiding getting involved in a power race or weight reduction race.

Mastermind of the entire effort was George Shepheard, son of the creator of the 1950s RedeX Trials, former (early 1970s) Australian Champion co-driver (with Colin Bond in Holden Dealer Team Holden Toranas, and now, in the 2000s, at around 60 years of age, a major contender in Qld championship rallies as a driver in Mitsubishi Lancer Evo.

George told Holden that these events always are lost on minor problems that arose because people started their preparation too late and missed finding them, and often through insufficient budget. He told them he wanted a certain budget and he wanted it by a certain date (many months before the event). If they were late, or under-budget, he wanted nothing to do with it. They complied with his requests. He built a test car “Old Silver” and we tested that thing almost to destruction, in testing and in various small rallies. Any weaknesses that showed up led to fixes being developed, tested again and, if necessary, a better fix found. Rebuilt, it acted as one of the service vehicles (and a potential - though unused - source of spare parts) during the event.

In fact, the only real weaknesses found were some spots in the body (fixed by the aforementioned addition of extra metal in the appropriate areas) and in particular, the engine mounts. The latter could be too soft, or too stiff and a number of (I believe) variations were tried until the right ones were developed. This was the single greatest factor in winning the event.

The Ford Cortinas, from what I saw and was told, had far more powerful engines, lighter weight, built-in strengthening roll cages, and other tricky gear. But they didn’t have time for extensive testing and struck numerous problems that could be minor in a testing situation, but are major when you’re out on the wilds of the Nullarbor Plain, hundreds of km from the nearest town, made road, or railway line. We did our development months in advance; they did it as the rally progressed. Their niggling problems often developed into major dramas. Among their problems, I believe, were broken engine mounts. Mark also possibly is correct about too-stiff springing - something else that could have been discovered with extensive testing.

George knew how to win major rallies and proved it to the nth degree. Planning, organisation... and do all the hard work before the event, not during it.

During and after the event there were numerous stories about cheating, massive rebuilds, clone cars, knowledge of the route, pace notes and all sorts of other fabrications. I became so heartily sick of it all I was highly stressed about it when I went to a Ford (Fairlane/LTD?) release not long afterwards. Edsel Ford II was fairly new to Ford Australia then; I was fairly new to Modern MOTOR magazine. I knew who Edsel was; he had no idea who I was. Over lunch, he began repeating all the crap about how Holden had cheated and Ford was robbed (sounds like V8 Supercars 2002...). Eventually it got to me and I snapped, leapt to my feet and pounded the table so hard the crockery and cutlery leapt in the air, shouting at Edsel that it was a load of bullshit and I was sick of hearing it. I don't remember seeing anyone more shocked; he had no idea it was coming. He changed the subject. Always seemed very friendly and respectful to me for the rest of his stay in Australia.

When I got back to the Modern MOTOR office, the story had preceded me. The editor, Wayne Cantell, called me into his office and said, "I should point out that we don't usually try to strangle the President of a major car company during lunch..." But he was struggling to stifle his laughter.

[Beejay17]

Thanks Barry, nice to get the real story

[SennasCat]

Ditto,

Thanks Barry. The knowledge of an insider is always much better than recycled bullshit and myth. Appreciate you input and have learned a few useful things today....

[Falcadore]

There was a biography from Chevron's list - 'Fast Cars and Fun Times' written about 1990.


1969 1st Bathurst 500 (Holden Monaro HT GTS350)
1970 2nd Sandown 250 (Holden Torana LC GTR-XU1)
1971 1st Australian Rally Championship (Holden Torana LC XU1)
1971 1st Sandown 250 (Holden Torana LC XU1)
1971 4th Bathurst 500 (Holden Torana LC XU1)
1972 1st Australian Rally Championship (Holden Torana LJ XU1)
1973 3rd Bathurst 1000 (Holden Torana LJ XU1)
1974 1st Australian Rally Championship (Holden Torana LJ XU1)
1974 4th Bathrust 1000 (Holden Torana LH L34)
1975 1st Australian Touring Car Championship (Holden Torana LH L34)
1975 3rd Bathurst 1000 (Holden Torana LH L34)
1976 2nd Australian Touring Car Championship (Holden Torana LH L34)
1976 2nd Bathurst 1000 (Holden Torana LH L34)
1977 2nd Australian Touring Car Championship (Ford Falcon XB GT)
1977 2nd Bathurst 1000 (Ford Falcon XC)
1978 5th Australian Touring Car Championship (Ford Falcon XC)
1981 3rd Australian Touring Car Championship (Ford Capri V6)
1981 8th Bathurst 1000 (Ford Capri V6)
1982 3rd Australian GT Championship (Porsche 944 Turbo)
1983 3rd Bathurst 1000 (Holden Commodore VH)
1985 6th Australian Touring Car Championship (Alfa Romeo GTV6)
1985 8th Bathurst 1000 (Alfa Romeo GTV6)
1986 9th Australian Touring Car Championship (Alfa Romeo GTV6)
1987 9th Australian Touring Car Championship (Alfa Romeo 75 Turbo)
1988 3rd Australian Touring Car Championship (Ford Sierra RS500)
1988 3rd Bathurst 1000 (Ford Sierra RS500)
1989 8th Australian Touring Car Championship (Ford Sierra RS500)
1990 3rd Australian Touring Car Championship (Ford Sierra RS500)
1991 6th Bathurst 12 Hour (Toyota MR2 Bathurst)
1991 10th Australian Touring Car Championship (Ford Sierra RS500)
1992 3rd Bathurst 12 Hour (Saab 9000 CS Turbo)
1993 3rd Australian Super Touring Car Championship (Toyota Corolla Seca)
1994 6th Bathurst 1000 (Holden Commodore VP)

[Ray Bell]

While I didn't have the close relationship with the Repco Trial that Barry had, I saw the problems he has enumerated both in the making (Bond's late preparation was the talk of the town... weeks before the event still putting together the first car) and saw the ease with which the Holdens walked it in.

His confirmation that things were not replaced repeatedly, that cars were not exchanged, to me underlines what I believed then and was told by members of each of the crews when they came through Sydney.

Brock's car, of course, had that indelible kink in the roof from his early exhuberance at that spoon drain or whatever it was that couldn't be duplicated!

One of the real heroes of the trial, and I'm sure Barry will agree, was Ross Dunkerton, replacing rear shocks on the Volvo so many times that he could do it almost while he was still driving... and Bob Watson, whose effort to keep up with the tight schedule with the sluggish Peogeot 504 diesel with just a two-man crew meant that they were on a knife edge of fatigue all the time.

But I feel that the answer for the Bond problem lay not in Colin being out of the car, but Colin being out of the managerial seat and - of course - given a lot more time to be ready.

[racer69]

Bond said that pretty much from the start until Perth was effectively testing for the car. Did they run 2 cars or 3, i thought that George Fury was part of the driving squad, or was he teamed in one of the cars.

This was also an event that put Geoff Portman on the map after a great display in the Stanza.

[Ray Bell]

Not sure of that... and I'm away from my books etc now, but I think it was three cars.

Yes, testing as far as Perth... surely a good indication that they were in big trouble!

But on the subject of Bondy... Ford had roped the whole deal in late, he at least had the optimism to try and make a go of it.

[david_martin]

Originally posted by Barry Lake
I was teamed with Rauno Aaltonen and Shekhar Mehta in the car that finished third outright in this Holden 1-2-3.

Rather off topic, but I actually saw a few moments of footage of that car in action in a Finnish TV documentary on the careers of both Rauno Aaltonen and Timo Mäkinen which was shown here a few days ago. Rauno talked at some length about his involvement with Opel during the latter 1970's and early 1980's and I would guess that it was an Opel connection that led to his participation in the '79 Repco trial with the factory GMH team.

[Mark Beckman]

Just for your info Barry, car 64 in the Repco was the Toyaparts Toyota KE35 Corolla (2 litre though) driven by Bob Bird and Roger McKinnon built up by my Dad for the event. My Dad was the service crew with another Guy who pulled out just after Adelaide and the 3 of them rotated the driving of both cars till Perth where my Mum joined them flying over from Melbourne. Then the 4 of them rotated the driving of both cars (Dont worry, Mum only drove the rally car on transports!) for most of the way around Australia. This might sound strange and wrong to some but only the people who competed knew how tough the schedual was to keep up for private teams and many did the same and also skipped competitive sections just to keep up in the event.

And yes they made it to the finish.

What I thought was amazing was the service vehicle was a 1969 Toyota Crown Ute with a standard 5R 1900cc motor filled to the brim with gear, towing a trailer and a top speed of about 80 mph. It went most of the way around flat to the floor at this speed and had no problems!

There was some bad incidents from fatigue but my Dads favorite story was of a service crew who came past them when they were stopped on the side of the road, the driver flat out in first gear in a Falcon ute. After they took off again they passed him not far down the road and pulled him over to see if they could help thinking he had a car problem, but the poor bugger driving was so tired he didnt realise he hadnt changed up in gear.

[Barry Lake]

That 1979 Repco Trial was a very dangerous event in terms of fatigue. We only saw a bed, on average, once each three days - and then it was never a full eight hours sleep. It probably varied from two to six hours real sleep, in a bed, every 72 hours. The rest was just grabbing what you could sitting up in the car. There were many times when we could barely stay awake.

Rauno insisted that we all should share the competitive driving in our car. Rauno and Shekhar shared the "Level 1" competitive stages, while I drove in "Level 2" competitives - and the larger share of the transport stages. Shekhar had the best ride, because he had no navigation experience. When he wasn't driving he was sleeping. Usually, whenever I wasn't driving, I was navigating, grabbing cat-naps on long stretches between turns. Rauno navigated when I was driving, although I remember one long stretch when I was driving and navigating, with the route book on my lap while the other two snored loudly!

It was tough even for us, running near the front with minimal problems, and with service crews to take care of our cars at most stops. You couldn't have done the full route with only two crew; you absolutely had to have three. Actually, in the initial planning stages, our car was to have had a two-man crew - Shekhar and myself. When we analysed the schedule more thoroughly, as details were released, we realised it had to be three and that was when Rauno was brought in.

Privateers had no realistic chance of completing the entire route. Short-cutting became essential for them. But even then, it wasn't easy. I have the greatest regard for those who made it all the way around, even if they didn't do all the really tough bits.

And yes, Ross Dunkerton's efforts in the Volvo were heroic, both in the driving and the many car repairs he had to undertake. He also had an inexperienced crew, which didn't help a lot. Ross also "bent" the rules by large degrees on at least two occasions that I know of, in order to stay in the event. Under the circumstances you wouldn't begrudge him that. There was a time, on the Alligator River stage in Northern Territory - deep rivers, deep bulldust, rough as hell track, very few cars made it through there - when Ross abandoned his car and crew and walked off, leaving the car stuck somewhere. As I remember the story, when someone eventually came along and towed them out, they continued on, finding Ross sitting on the front verandah of possibly the only farm house on the route. It took some time to persuade him back into the car, I believe, but once behind the wheel he was back to full pace again. And they finished fourth!

Another heroic effort came from Wes Nalder in a Toyota, who I think completed the entire route, which only very few did. Wes had a similar top result in the 1977 London-Sydney, which also had a one-stop-per-three-days type schedule and which I did with Brian Hilton as a two-man crew. We were running fourth and challenging for third when our head gasket blew in the Peugeot 504 half-way across Australia, but I always have wondered if we would have survived those last few days when many others crashed or made silly mistakes through fatigue.

As it was, we had a 36 hour rest waiting for parts to be flown into the Tanami Desert for us, before we short cut to catch the field. Even then, we were struggling, but by then our adrenalin count was way down. That's another factor. When you're competitive, near the front of the field, the adrenalin can keep you going for what seems like forever. But once you're out of contention and just driving to get to the finish, it is much more difficult to stay awake. Another thing against the privateers.

By comparison, the 1993 London to Sydney, in which I competed with Ian Vaughan in a Ford Falcon (second outright) was very civilised. We stopped EVERY night and slept in real beds, in real hotels. But still a very rough and tough event, especially in Australia, on car destroying tracks. And there were no service crews allowed in this one. You had to do all servicing and repairs yourself. One of the better things about this sort of schedule is that you absorb more of what you see each day. Some of that 1977 London to Sydney route was missed entirely - either asleep, too tired to look at the scenery, or it was too dark, or (in Pakistan) raining so torrentially you couldn't see anything anyway. In 1993, in daylight, and awake, we saw and took in much more.

Thinking back on the Repco Trial, I said we had "minimal problems" but we had the track-side strut repair, many punctures, hundreds of km without use of the clutch, numerous boggings - including one major one in deep sand hundreds of metres up a dry creek that Shekhar mistook for the track in the dark, once stuck in the Alligator River (silly name - no alligators, only crocodiles) with water half way up the doors and rapidly filling the car, occasional problems finding the correct track, etc.

I can remember once asking the other two, during one of these delays, "If we are having all this trouble and we are beating other people by hours, rather than minutes, can you imagine what sort of disasters they must be having to deal with?"

Real endurance tests, all of them.

[Barry Lake]

Having hijacked the Colin Bond thread, I should put in my two bob's worth on him.

I first met Colin in 1964 when we were both racing open-wheelers, and had a lot to do with him over the years, including driving service vehicles for him in rallies etc. So I have seen his career at close quarters. I believe Colin was one of the most naturally talented and most versatile drivers ever to sit behind the wheel. He excelled in everything from an Austin Healey Sprite in motorkhanas, all the way through all levels of racing and rallying to Matich's McLaren M10B Chev F5000, as mentioned in this thread.

But I suspect the fact that it always came easily to him proved to be a handicap in later years, when talent wasn't enough. Hard work and some animal cunning also were needed, and Colin, I believe, wasn't as gifted in those areas.

He had another handicap, so Harry Firth, boss of the Holden Dealer Team has often told me over the years. Harry said Colin always wanted to do things "his way", whereas Peter Brock (who was very much second best to Colin in the team in the early days in my opinion) according to Harry, was always ready to listen to advice. This could be interpreted as Brock knowing more than Bond about how to pander to the boss's ego. Which is part of the "animal cunning" I mentioned.

Colin also was always very easy going; too much so in many ways. The attitude helped his driving - especially in the old-style rally days - but not always in other areas. There were times, later in his career, when he made do with what he had, when he should really have been getting fired up and finding some way to make sure he had equipment equal to what everyone else had.

I can recognise such failings, because I have all of these (and more) myself!

Colin had an exceptional career even as it was, but it could have been successful for a lot longer if there had been team managers around who recognised his potential and created situations that would have allowed him to give his best.

[Ray Bell]

Barry... Colin's attitude comes into question also with the effective length of his career.

He told one fellow driver, one night when they were discussing things, that he had been at his best when he was 30. That equates to the early seventies, this discussion took place in the late eighties.

So, mentally, he had gone over the hill and was - in that ever-accepting way of his - prepared to be second best.

Remember the day he lobbed over the Dogleg at OP and found a sumpful of Fred Gibson's Corse 50? He got into a huge slide but made it into BP safe and sound, probably going on to win the race. Then came Bob Morris, Don Holland et al... all sliding off into the scenery until Arnold Ahrenfeld came along and did as well as Colin in avoiding going off the road.

Remember the times he arrived on Sunday's grid for a hundred lapper, having missed practice and having been up all night winning some rally somewhere? And then he would drive through the field to win the race...

Remember his single-minded precision at hillclimbs that won him titles in the Lynx?

These were his strengths in those early times, obviously. But then you raise the issue of Brock v. Bond in the HDT... and your suggestion is that PB pandered to the boss while Colin played his own tune.

Surely a part of this was how green Brock was at the time, and how well established Colin was, and how Harry had hooked him in so he had a top line driver in both rallying and racing? Peter, on the other hand, speaks of taking note of the things Harry had him doing... like finding out what revs gave valve float in the GTS 350s at Calder before Bathurst, and being shown that it was just as quick to lap in top gear as using second in the corners.

But it didn't stay that way, and I think we must consider the fact that the people changed. Peter became, with his win at Bathurst in '72 after Colin crashed, a star. I mean in reality, in the public arena. But did he also elevate himself to stardom in his own mind? This could be seen as when the rift between he and Harry began...

And there is still no explanation for the detonation that put him out of Bathurst in '74 when he held a six-lap lead. Ian Tate can't explain it, he called in Phil Irving who had no answers... but Harry claimed that Brock, after being told to slow down, set fastest lap of the race just before this happened. On a greasy track...

While Colin, as you say, was prepared to sit back, take the drives that were thrown at him and have his pleasures, Brock was still hungry. And maybe Harry saw him as a threat? Certainly, Harry was angling to get rid of him and he did get rid of him.

Look also at who they roped into the team as the replacement... an aging John Harvey, another who'd done it all before and who was happy to drive to second place if that's what he was told to do.

It all comes under a different light when you know that Harry told Bo Seton to blow up the XT instead of replace the radiator. There's an ego in there that isn't easily understood.

[howl]

Earlier in this thread it was mentioned that Colin Bond won 2 races during the 1990 ATCC. One of them was in rain, and I gues his rally experience told, but what about the other victory?

For the 1990 championship a maximum of 6 tyres per race was introduced (qualifying and a 50 minute race). I'm guessing, but as far as I understand Bond was, at that stage in his career, his own man on a limited budget compared to the opposition and had been so for a while. So was it a case of Bond saving the car (and tyres), out of nessessity anyway paired with his natural car control mentioned earlier as well, that actually help him win 2 races in 1990?

Jesper O.H.

[William Dale Jr]

From what I have read in Auto Actions from 1990, Bondy set the car up with the race in mind. As a result, he would never qualify well, but his Sierra would look after it's tyres, allowing him to come through the field during the race as everyone else's tyres fell apart.

Take Lakeside, for example. The new surface and hot conditions forced most of the leading Sierra runners (Johnson, Hansford, etc) to make a pitstop. Bondy's tyres were still in reasonably good condition and didn't need to make a stop, allowing him to take an unexpected victory.

Mallala was his other victory that year. That round also featured the debut of Nissan's GTR in the hands of Mark Skaife - Jim Richards would get his hands on the car once it was reliable. The GTR was running away with the race until a front hub failure put Skaife into the sand, ending his race. In another hot, dry race, it was down to the Sierra with the best rubber at the end of the race. Cue Bondy. Colin ran down and passed then-leader Dick Johnson with a few laps to go to take the win.

Because, as howl mentioned, of the new tyre rules, the increased 'reliable' horsepower the Sierras were producing and the extra weight they had to carry, their tyres were usually useless by the end of the race. So in 1990, unlike in previous years where the Shell Sierras were dominant in qualifying and the race, the usual polesitters - the Benson & Hedges Sierras of Tony Longhurst and Alan Jones - didn't take any ATCC wins during the year because they focussed on being fast, rather than being easy on their tyres.

In the long run, Colin's approach to the races paid off; he finished third in the championship, the B&H drivers finished nowhere.

[Amaroo]

Umm both of those races in 1990 where in the dry. At Mallala Bondy passed Johnson and Bowe early and set out after Skaife and Brock. After Skaife went out with rear hub failure on the GTR it was Brock and Bond. Bondy was catching Brock but then with about 10 laps to go Brocks clutch gave up the ghost and Bondy sailed passed him. It must also be remebered that Bondy's engines where built on a really tight budget by Graham Wilkins but they lacked for nothing in the power stacks. And Bondy finished forth in the Championship behind Richards, Brock and Johnson.

[Falcadore]

I was under the impression the Benincas did Bondy'es Sierra motors as a carry over from the Alfa Romeo days?

[Amaroo]

Originally posted by Falcadore
I was under the impression the Benincas did Bondy'es Sierra motors as a carry over from the Alfa Romeo days?

Joe Benica did the engines in 1988 and 1989. Graham Wilkins was doing Andrew Medieckies motors and the watchful eye of Ross Stone (Who was Medieckies team manager). When Meideckie finished up in 1989 Bondy decided to use Grahams experiance and get the engines done in Sydney closer to there Gladesville workshop

[Barry Lake]

Correct spelling: Andrew Miedecke.


Pronunciation, I am not sure. Andrew told me in 1970, when I first met him, he pronounced it something like Meed'kee/Meedakee. But he's never corrected people using the more common M'dekky/Mudekky.

[David McKinney]

You're six years ahead of me, Barry, but with the same result
I'm sure he told me mee-d'ky (which is pretty close to what the original Schleswig-Holstein pronunciation would have been), but ever since then so many people say ma-deeky that I wondered if my memory was playing me tricks. Thanks for putting my mind at rest.
Another note on the pronunciation of Australian drivers' names: I was so sure I was wrong about the Geoghegan pronunciation that I didn't get involved with the discussion on another thread. However, a very early article on Leo - Sports Car World? - gave it as "geegan", without indicating whether the initial "g" was hard or soft. Many, many years later I asked him and I'm sure he said the same thing, with a hard initial "g". Yet everyone says "gaygan". Certainly Gahagan is pronounced that way, but is Geoghegan?
Can you throw any light on this one?

[Doug Nye]

He said to me a month or so ago..."Hullo - I'm Leo 'Gee-gan'" - with two HAARD 'Gees'

DCN

[Barry Lake]

Well, I'll be gob-smacked!

I have watched Leo Geoghegan race since 1957, have known him well (seeing him a number of times per week for many years) since 1960, he nominated me to join my first car club, helped me when I started racing, then in 1969-1970 I worked for him, for 15 years or so I reported on his racing efforts...

...and he has always been Gayg'n (with two hard "g"s) to me.

So has Pete, their two wives, sister Marie-Louise, their mother, Leo's son Steve who I worked with and travelled with...

We always answered the phone "Gayg'ns". I rarely ever heard it said any other way.

None of them ever corrected me.

Must ask him next time I see him.


And Dave McKinney, your pronunciation of Miedecke is the same as I was trying to write. Tough business this phonetic spelling.

[Ray Bell]

What Doug says is right... Leo does say it's 'Geegan'.

But I think it's a case of there being so many people pronounce it the other way that they just accept it either way.

I remember Frank Matich having his name pronounced 'Mateesh' when he was receiving a trophy once at Warwick Farm too. There are many others whose names are mangled in front of them and they just soak it all up...

[David McKinney]

I've started so I'll finish...
For the benefit of non-antipodean enthusiasts, Frank's name is said 'mattitch', with the stress on the first syllable. Although I have heard it 'mattick'.
I always presumed it was a (former) Yugoslav name - if it was European I suppose 'mattish' would be closer to the original?

Barry,
I realised we were saying more or less the same thing about Miedecke
I wish we could use phonetic symbols in these discussions, but (a) not everyone knows them and (b) my keyboard at least doesn't have them

[Ray Bell]

A good thing Bond doesn't have any pronunciation problems...

Yes, I've also heard 'Mattick'... and his family was from Wolf country ort thereabouts.

[Barry Lake]

Someone in the Matich family (Frank himself, maybe, or his brother, or even son Kris) recently told me the family origin. Yes it was one of the parts of Yugoslavia, I am thinking Croatia, but won't swear to it.

Maybe I wrote it down somewhere and will find it some day...

And I've never heard/said it any other way than MATT-itch.




As for Colin Bond, definitely pronounced CAR-lin BERN-da... (Just joking )

[Mac Lark]

Milan may well be the man to clarify the Matich origin but I'd go for a part of Yugoslavia where the spotted dogs originate.

In NZ people with the 'ich' on the end of their surname are fondly referred to as 'Dally's'

Our most famous Dally driver is Paul Radisich however close behind would be Robbie Francevic - 1986 Australian Touring Car Champion in one of those Volvo's that had all the aerodynamic efficiency of Buckingham Palace.

Robbie had heard so many different versions of his name that he changed the spelling so as to get some consistency from race callers etc.


Anyway, back to Bondo. He came to NZ in 1973 and was a star of the Heatway Rally in an XU1.

I understand he is a much sought after and hilarious after dinner speaker.

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by Mac Lark
Anyway, back to Bondo. He came to NZ in 1973 and was a star of the Heatway Rally in an XU1. .

Yes, that's where D-D was his navigator and where Ari Vatanen saw him and concluded he was the best rally driver in the world...

[Beejay17]

Originally posted by Mac Lark
Our most famous Dally driver is Paul Radisich however close behind would be Robbie Francevic - 1986 Australian Touring Car Champion in one of those Volvo's that had all the aerodynamic efficiency of Buckingham Palace.

Would that be Paul Radi-SEEECH, as Murray Walker was want to say?

[David McKinney]

I think he MW also went through a phase of calling it rad-ee-sitch. In NZ it was always radda-sitch.
Regarding the Franicevic/Francevic thing: correctly, the accent is on the first syllable, but Robbie got so pissed off with everyone stressing the second syllable that he dropped it on the basis that it would at least be close to what it should have been. I thought though that he'd given up and reverted to the original spelling? Or maybe I'm getting confused with the short-lived spelling of Harry Shell

[Ray Bell]

We had a most appropriate version for Frank...

Especially during his brief showing in the Tasman Cup series.

[Vicuna]

Ray - I don't believe Ari was anywhere near NZ in 1973.

The first time Vatenen was here was '77. Not sure if Bondo had a ride in our rally that year.

It might've been called the Motorguard by then.

[David McKinney]

Perhaps the quote comes from Mikkola, who was there in 1973
Entirely from (hazy) memory, I think the first Motogard was 1978

[Ray Bell]

Well, I'm working on my recollection of what D-D told me in the pits at Lakeside about six years ago...

And I can't ask him for verification any more.

But it was one of those guys...

[Beejay17]

I think the three Vatanen, Bond and DD would have been togther for the Castrol International in Canberra in the late '70s. Maybe it was then.

[Ray Bell]

The Euro driver involved made the comment entirely without the knowledge of Bondy or D-D... D-D merely saw it on TV... or on a tape sent from England or something.

He obviously saw Bond drive, however...

[Amaroo]

Colin Bond was recentley inducted to the AVESCO Hall of Fame at the recent V8 Supercar Awards. Funny thing though was the man doing the commentary on some old fottage saying Bond had been chosen to join the Holden Dealer Team by "Henry Firth"