Celica's at Bathurst

With the biggest race on the Australian motorsport calendar, the Bathurst 1000, being held tomorrow, I thought I'd dig up some history on the Celica's involvement in the great race.

For the first six years of it's production, not a single Celica was entered into the annual enduro. 1977 saw the first Celica to race at the mountain entered by Sydney Toyota dealer Peter Williamson, and co-driven by Gary Scott. It was an RA23 GT with an 18RG motor. Williamson, being quite a character, painted the Japanese rising sun motif on the roof. The car qualified 1st in class C and 34th outright of 60 starters, but failed to finish the race, retiring on the 73rd lap.

Williamsons' 1977 entry:


There were two Celica's entered in the 1978 classic. Williamson was back in his RA23, this time with Mike Quinn co-driving. The second Celica, another RA23, was driven by Jeff Harris and Doug Clark. Once again Williamson qualified first in class and 36th outright of 63 starters, and went on to finish 2nd in class in an outstanding 11th position outright, completing 149 laps of the gruelling circuit. The Williamson car from ths year is best remembered for the crew taking to the bootlid with an axe - a hit up the bum had locked the bootlid in place and they couldn't open it to re-fuel the car, so they cut a hole in it! Here's the vid of the car getting the chop: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPa3UhulSBQ. To this day fans still refer to it as "the axe car". Harris and Clark qualified their RA23 in 58th outright and went on to finish 29th outright having completed just 128 laps.

The Harris/Clark RA23:


1979 possibly marks the Celica's most famous appearance at Bathurst, though not just because it won it's class, but because for the first time TV viewers could get right into the cockpit of a racecar and watch and listen to the driver at work via an invention Channel 7 (who owned the broadcast rights to the race) called RaceCam - a TV camera mounted in the passenger side of the car that transmitted images to a helicopter hovering over the racetrack which then relayed them to be broadcast. And the very first car to have RaceCam fitted - the RA40 Celica coupe of Peter Williamson! Willo, partnered again by Mike Quinn, was in one of three Celica's entered, the others being the RA40 liftback of Wally Scott and Peter Walton and the ex-Williamson RA23 of Graeme Bailey and Doug Clark. Williamson and Quinn qualified 3rd in class and 33rd outright of 63 starters, and went on to win class C (for 1601-2000cc cars) and finish a stunning 9th outright, completing 146 laps and beating every single Class B (2001-3000cc) car home! Scott and Walton qualified 2nd in class and 30th outright and finished 5th in class and a fine 15th outright. The Bailey/Clarke entry qualified 4th in class and 35th outright, but was retired after only 46 laps

The worlds first live view from RaceCam. I told you Willo was a character :lachtot
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsXyrCOp228&feature=related

1980 saw three Celica's entered again, in fact they were the exact same driver lineups as the previous year. Williamson and Quinn once again qualified their RA40 coupe first in the 1601-2000cc class and 27th outright of 60 entries, but the car would be retired after 129 laps. Bailey and Clarke, in an RA40 coupe this year (once again, it was Williamson's car from the previous year), qualified 2nd in class and 30th outright, and went on to win their class, finishing 12th outright and once again beating almost the entire field of 3L cars (only the class winning 3L car finished higher). The Scott/Walton RA40 liftback qualified poorly in 47th outright, and was retired just three laps into the race.

Bailey and Clark's 1980 ride:


Peter Williamson's running commentary on RaceCam the previous year was so popular with viewers that Channel 7 fitted it to his car again for 1980, here's some more footage. Check out how much faster the little Celica is than the big 6L cars under brakes and across the top twisty section of the track.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMkBzcr6DFs&feature=related

Once again the same three Celica's were entered for the 1981 event. Williamson was partnered by John Smith, Bailey by Steve Land, and The Scott/Walton pairing remained unchanged. The class structure changed from engine capacity limited to number of cylinders, so the Celica's competed in the 4-cylinder class with Alfa's, Escorts, Gemini's, and the then brand-new turbo Nissan Bluebirds. Williamson qualified second in class and 36th outright, and would go on to comfortably win the 4-cylinder class completing 111 laps (the race was shortened by a massive accident on the 120th lap that year). Bailey qualified 3rd in class and 42nd outright, but would retire from the race on the 34th lap. The Scott/Walton liftback qualified 48th outright and retired on lap 50.

Here's the only pic I could find of the Scott/Walton car:


1982, and even though the RA60 had been released by then, it was the same three RA40 Celica's to front Bathurst again. Peter Williamson was absent this year, but had sold his 1981 car and it was entered for 1982 by Craig Bradtke and Graham Harrison, the car failed to qualify for the race however. Bailey and Land were back in the distinctive Chickadee-sponsored coupe (it was Bailey's family business), and Scott and Walton in their liftback. Due to the class structure being changed again (the rules changed as often as the weather back then) to Class A (over 3L) and Class B (under 3L), the Celica's would be racing against the vastly quicker turbo Bluebirds and 3L Capri's, and proved to be dismally uncompetitive. Bailey qualified 49th out of 54, and Scott 51st, which were 6th and 8th in Class B respectively. Bailey would retire from the race on lap 65, the Scott/Walton car would finish the race in 17th position having completed 137 laps, 16 less than the class-winning Bluebird.

Bailey's 1982 car, updated to the square-light front end:


The lone Celica entered in the 1983 race was the same ex-Williamson RA40 as the previous year, but for 1983 it was being driven by Bob Holden and Gordon Spice. Out of 58 entrants there were only 10 Class B cars. Holden and Spice qualified 9th in class and 55th outright, but the car didn't even make the start of the race.

The RA40's were all retired for the 1984 running of the Bathurst classic. Peter Williamson was back in the lone Celica (of sorts) partnered by Charlie O'Brien in the new-to-Australia "Celica Supra" (the 1984 MA61 was the first one we got). The car was actually an ex-factory TRD racer that had been built for the British Touring Car Championship. It ran a 5M-GE motor that put out 285hp and had the best driveline, brake and suspension components allowed under the Group A rules. Although it had achieved some good results overseas before being shipped to Australia, including 5th outright in the Spa 24-hour, at Bathurst the car qualified poorly in 51st of 61, and Williamson was involved in an accident at the start of the race which destroyed it before it even got to the start line.



Video of the cars short-lived Bathurst debut: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o3rD3IJSt0

Williamson and the (repaired and now painted orange) Celica Supra were back for 1985 with Czech co-driver Tomas Mazera and again were the sole Celica entry. The pair qualified reasonably well in 27th of 53 but the car only lasted 32 laps before retiring.

Here's the 1985 livery:


1986 and Williamson was once again the only Celica entrant. Although the ST162 had been released the previous year, Willo stuck with the more powerful and, more importanly, rear drive MA61. This year he was to be partnered by a gawky looking teenager called Mark Skaife, who would later go on to win the event six times over the course of his career. However I don't think Skaife even got a drive of the Celica Supra as Willo rolled it heavily in practice and was unable to repair it for the race.

1987 was the "European Invasion" of Bathurst. The race was made a round of the World Touring Car Championship and the cream of European talent arrived in town and dominated the race (although the British team that won the race were later disqualified for a host of illegalities). Our man Willo was once again the only one flying the Celica flag in his (repaired. again) MA61 Celica Supra, but the car failed to qualify for the race (not sure why, I can't find any details).

And that, I'm sad to say, concluded the Celica's participation in our great race. The GT-Four version of the ST162 would have made a killer Group A car (the Bathurst 1000 and Australian Touring Car Championship were run under international Group A rules between 1985 and 1992), with the turbocharged 4WD goodness that would eventually lead to the Nissan Skyline GTR dominating and ultimately destroying Group A, unfortunately however, we'll never know..

History lesson's over :hehe

Cheers

Matt

 

Hi fernandocelica,

Those wheels (I assume you're referring to the ones with the gold centres) are actually Australian made Simmons V4 rims, but you're right, they do look a bit like BBS rims of the period (and they look hot on ST162's ). Simmons wheels were popular with racers because their three-piece construction meant they could be made in any width and offset that you required, unfortunately they are now out of production.

Thanks for the feedback on the post guys, I'm glad you liked it. Unfortunately after the demise of Group A the Celica was ineligible for competition in the two top-level categories that were subsequently created, V8 Supercars (for Ford and Holden vehicles only), and Super Touring (the rules for which required a 4-door body shell). Celica's did however continue to be raced in production-car events with success, if I get a few hours to spare one day I'll look into that and post something similar.

Cheers,
Matt