Gibson Motorsport was an Australian motor racing team that competed in the Australian Touring Car Championship from 1985 until 2003, though the team had its roots in Gibson's "Road & Track" team which ran a series of Ford Falcon GTHOs in Series Production during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The name of the team was also the name of Fred Gibson's automotive business in Sydney. As Gibson was also a driver for the Ford Works Team, his team was sometimes a pseudo-works team when the Ford factory did not enter.
At one point of 1984, Marsden had gone to Japan to discuss Nissan's plans for the new Group A category, and when he returned he joined the team at a test session at Melbourne's Calder Park Raceway where lead driver Fury was substantially faster than ever before and had broken the existing touring car lap record on the 1.6km circuit. Fred Gibson told the story that the normally placid Marsden went into a rage and threatened to fire the entire team on the spot when he found the Bluebird was fitted with a 2.0 litre turbo engine and not the 1.8-litre unit it raced with.[citation needed]
Fred Gibson, who gave the Bluebird turbo its first race win in Australian touring car racing during the 1983 AMSCAR Series at Sydney's Amaroo Park, retired from driving at the end of 1983 and in 1985 and accepted an offer from Howard Marsden as team owner/manager. He inherited next to no staff as most jumped ship at the prospect of working for Fred. Gibson later described the Bluebird Turbo as "A shithouse little car".[citation needed]
The Nissan team also raced a Nissan Gazelle in the 1987 Australian 2.0 Litre Touring Car Championship for 20-year-old Mark Skaife, who had previously shown good form finishing second in the 1985 and 1986 Ford Laser series held at Amaroo Park. Skaife, who had joined the Nissan team as a mechanic in 1987, went on to win the 2.0 Litre championship, winning three of the four rounds of the series to break the stranglehold that Toyota had on the baby car class. He was joined at Bathurst in the Gazelle by Adelaide Hills Nissan dealer Grant Jarrett. During qualifying, Jarrett was having trouble making the class cut off time and it looked as if the Gazelle, which due to the race being an FIA WTCC race was forced to run in a higher engine class than it did in Australia (putting it in the same class as the BMW M3), would be a non-qualifier. However, late in Friday qualifying Jarrett managed to make the cut. During the time Jarrett was on his qualifying run, Skaife was reportedly nowhere to be seen in the Nissan pits. When the car returned to the pits it was driven straight into the garage and the doors closed. Both drivers emerged a short time later, with Skaife having damp hair and a flushed face while Jarret looked more like he had just got out of a shower than a touring car. This led to speculation it was Skaife and not Jarrett who had just been in the car for its final qualifying run. The pair finished the race in 19th place after numerous mechanical problems which had started within the first 10 laps. Despite the speculation that he had not driven his fastest qualifying laps, in the race Jarrett proved his critics wrong and would be credited with a faster race lap than he recorded in qualifying. However, in a magazine interview almost 20 years later, Fred Gibson admitted that it was indeed Skaife who qualified the car using Jarrett's driving suit and helmet.
1988-1990
For 1988, the new Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R was introduced. The new car featured a 2.0 Litre turbocharged Straight-six engine which produced approximately 410bhp (306kW; 416PS), almost 70bhp (52kW; 71PS) more than the outdated DR30's turbocharged 4cyl engine. Also, the HR31 featured front and rear spoilers which helped with high speed stability, something the old car lacked with team drivers reporting the cars as being frightful to drive on the high speed Conrod Straight at Bathurst where they were reaching speeds up to 260km/h (162mph) in 1986.
Unfortunately for the team parts for the car were late in arriving as Nissan also had to supply to teams in Japan and Europe (the European Nissan team was in fact run by Howard Marsden). This saw the car not debuted until Round 5 in Adelaide in the hands of Seton. Seton and Fury alternated driving the car while the team built its second, and it would not be until Round 8 at Amaroo Park before that second car appeared. Despite the new cars tendency to be unreliable, especially with its transmission, Seton and Fury showed enough speed in the ATCC to give hope to an end of the Ford Sierra domination, though in reality the team was playing catch-up all year having to develop the car as they raced it. The car was also homologated with only a small capacity turbo which limited its power output, with power peaking at around 470bhp (350kW; 477PS) in 1990.
At Sandown for the annual Sandown 500, the Fury / Skaife car had led for a number of laps (after all the leading Sierras except Allan Moffat's had retired or been delayed with mechanical problems), and Skaife was holding a 30-second lead over the Larry Perkins / Denny HulmeHolden CommodoreV8, before retiring while in the lead on lap 94 with differential failure. The Seton / Anders Olofsson car (which Seton had qualified 3rd, though almost two seconds slower than Dick Johnson's pole winning time in a Sierra) had retired on the third lap of the race with the same transmission failure that would put it out within seconds of the start of the Tooheys 1000 a few weeks later. Until the homologation of a proper racing 5-speed Getrag gearbox from 1989, the GTS-R's biggest drawback was its production based transmission.
The team suffered a setback in August 1988 when Seton rolled the #15 Skyline during a media day at Bathurst. This would set the tone for a disastrous Tooheys 1000 campaign which saw both Skylines out by lap 17, with Seton's car destroying its gearbox as the green flag was waved to start the race (he made it only as far as the pit exit gate), while Fury's car was out with overheating after the fan belt flew off the engine at close to 250km/h (155mph) on Conrod Straight.[2] Against a flock of the all-powerful Ford Sierra RS500s, Fury managed to qualify the Skyline in 10th place at Bathurst. He would use Seton's car in the "Tooheys Dozen" shootout as co-driver Mark Skaife had crashed the #30 car during practice and it was still under repair. Fury (10th) and Larry Perkins (8th), driving one of the new Holden Commodore VL SS Group A SVs, were the only non-Ford Sierra drivers to qualify in the Top 10 at Bathurst, though they were joined by the non-Fords of Peter Brock (BMW M3) and Nissan Europe driver Allan Grice (Commodore) in the shootout. 1988 was also the only year the shootout would not decide the top 10 grid positions for the race.
In 1989, title sponsor Philip Morris, who was dissatisfied at being given secondary status behind Nissan for their signage on the Skylines throughout 1988, offered its sponsorship dollars to Glenn Seton who had left to form his own team, Glenn Seton Racing. Twice ATCC champion and triple Bathurst winner Jim Richards was hired as a replacement. The team expanded to three cars for some events with Mark Skaife driving. Wins were achieved at the Winton ATCC round (Fury) and at the Sandown 500 (Richards/Skaife) with a 3rd and 4th placing at Bathurst.[3] Driving the HR31, Richards was the only non-Ford Sierra RS500 driver to qualify for the Tooheys Top 10 pole runoff at Bathurst.
For 1990 the team reverted to two cars for Richards and Skaife with long time team driver George Fury let go by the team. At round 7 Skaife debuted the 4WD, twin-turbocharged Nissan Skyline GT-R at the Mallala Raceway. After qualifying 3rd, Skaife then showed what the previously dominant Sierra runners feared when he stormed to the front and was pulling away from the field before the car suffered a hub failure mid-race. Richards then moved into the GT-R for the last two rounds to win the series at Barbagallo and Oran Park. After finishing 4th in a quiet race in Perth, Richards won the race at Oran Park and secured the first ATCC win for both Nissan and Gibson.
The GT-R was favourite to qualify in pole at Bathurst, though brake dramas saw Richards only set 11th best time. In a move that was actually illegal (though it was not known until years later), after discovering problems with the GT-R following Saturday afternoon's final practice session, that night Gibson's team covertly swapped to their spare car (the ATCC car), including putting the Channel 7Racecam unit into the car so that no one would be any wiser. Using the 'illegal' car, Richards started the race and stormed to the front in less than 10 laps, and despite long pit stops to replace brake pads, would remain a challenger before failing with drive-train failure, though the team was able to get the car back on the track and Richards and Skaife would finish 18th outright, 15 laps down on the winners.[4]
1991-1992
In 1991, the team dominated winning all but a handful of races.[5] Richards and Skaife completely dominated the Tooheys 1000 at Bathurst, easily claiming pole (Skaife), fastest lap (Skaife in the team's second car) and winning in race record time. Due to the demise of Group A in Australia after 1992, Skaife's pole time of 2:12.630 at Bathurst remains the fastest recorded Group A time on The Mountain.
Following Bathurst, the team were then set to take the race winning Richards/Skaife GT-R to the Fuji Speedway in Japan for the 1991 Fuji 500 race, but were asked not to do so by the head of NISMO in Japan. The Japanese company were fearful that the Australian built car would easily outpace and defeat the Japanese GT-Rs at Fuji after having seen at first hand the overwhelming speed of the Gibson built car at Bathurst. NISMO claimed that it would be bad for business for their own factory backed cars, as well as those of their customers, to be soundly beaten by an overseas built (although still factory backed) GT-R.
At the end of 1991, the team took their GT-R to New Zealand for the Nissan Mobil series which saw two 500km races, the first on the streets of Wellington where Skaife qualified the car second behind the Schnitzer MotorsportBMW M3 Evolution of Formula One driver Emanuele Pirro. After leading early, various suspension problems on the bumpy street circuit saw Richards and Skaife finish 5 laps down in 3rd place. A week later for the Pukekohe 500 on a fast, open circuit which suited the twin-turbo Nissan, Skaife easily qualified on pole before he and Richards went on to a 43-second win over the Schnitzer BMW of Pirro and Joachim Winkelhock with the Holden Commodore of Peter Brock and Larry Perkins finishing 3rd. This saw the pair ultimately finish 2nd to Pirro/Winkelhock in the 1991 Nissan Mobil series.[6]
For 1992, cigarette brand Winfield joined the team as title sponsor. During the season CAMS handicapped the GT-Rs in an attempt to bring it back to the field, which included upping the cars weight from 1360 to 1500kg over the course of the year (40kg was added before the ATCC and another 100kg was added before the endurance races), as well as adding pop-off valves to the turbos to restrict power. In spite of this and the team's year long claim that the cars were no longer competitive (which even led to court action in a failed attempt to have the handicaps lifted), Mark Skaife won the 1992 Australian Touring Car Championship, and then again teamed with Jim Richards to win the crash shortened Tooheys 1000, with teammates Anders Olofsson and Neil Crompton finishing in third place.[7] Richards went on to finish the turbo era in style when he drove the GT-R to win both of the "Clarke Shoes Group A Finale" races at the 1992 Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide.
For 1993, Australian touring car racing moved to the 5.0L V8 formula open only to Ford and Holden (though at the time, naturally aspirated 2.0 litre cars were allowed by CAMS and actually had their own championship run concurrently with the ATCC. These cars would soon evolve into the Super Touring class). Given his previous history with Ford being a factory team driver for them in the 1960s and 1970s, and with Rothmans also leasing its fleet from Ford, it was expected that Fred Gibson would return to the Blue Oval. However, after being less than impressed with Ford's offered deal, and with a better financial package on offer from Holden, Gibson Motorsport elected to race Holden VP Commodores.[8] The team started with two cars assembled with many customer Holden Racing Team and Perkins Engineering components. After a lacklustre championship for all Commodore runners after it was found that the aero package devised for the VP Commodore by Tom Walkinshaw Racing in 1992 wasn't right (this was rectified with a revised package in mid-ATCC which saw the Commodores, especially the Winfield cars, vastly more competitive), the team were on the pace at Bathurst, with Skaife and Richards qualifying and finishing 2nd behind the similar VP Commodore (though one running a Holden V8 engine rather than the ChevroletV8 engine used by GMS and other top-level teams) of Larry Perkins and Gregg Hansford.[9] The team's second Commodore driven by Anders Olofsson and David Brabham, who had also qualified in the top 10, finished in 4th place, two laps down on their teammates.
In 1994 after the aero revisions to the VP Commodores during the 1993 Australian Touring Car Championship (won easily by ex-Gibson driver Glenn Seton driving a Ford EB Falcon), Skaife won his second ATCC and the team's 4th overall.[10]Bathurst was not so kind to the team. Skaife qualified the #1 VP Commodore in 3rd position and in the early (very) wet laps was battling for the lead with the HRT Commodore of Peter Brock and the Castrol Commodore of Perkins. Unfortunately their race ended on lap 39 with accident damage. The #2 car, driven by Olofsson and veteran Colin Bond in his last ever drive at Bathurst, started in 12th place and survived the wet/dry conditions throughout the day to finish 6th outright on the lead lap.
In practice at Eastern Creek in January 1995, Skaife had a major accident that kept him from driving in the opening round of the Touring Car Championship. This coupled with the need to find a new major sponsor following the Federal Government's decision to ban all tobacco advertising in Australia from 1 January 1996, and a mid-season workshop move saw the team off the pace throughout much of 1995, although Skaife would win the Eastern Creek round. At Bathurst, the Richards/Skaife car dominated the first 65 laps of the race, including showing some remarkable fuel economy (most of the Commodores and Falcons were pitting at around 28-30 laps while the #1 Winfield sponsored car first pitted on lap 38) before a broken tailshaft ended their race. The fuel economy did not seem to affect the Holden VR Commodore's performance as Skaife, who was in the car at the time of the failure, was building on the handy lead Richards had given him and was pulling away from the chasing Fords of Seton and John Bowe. The team's second car driven by Anders Oloffson and Jim Richards' son Steven went on to finish the race 4th outright.[11]
From the end of 1995 tobacco sponsorship was outlawed. In a tight market, the team struggled to find a replacement sponsor, running just one plain white car in the opening rounds of 1996 ATCC for Skaife. Eventually some funding came the team's way from Sega and Holden's Network Q second hand division, but it was a long way short of the team's previous funding levels.[8][12] As a result of the lack of funds, GMS was forced to release Jim Richards. The financial situation also saw the team fall behind on development which saw Skaife fall to 9th in the ATCC. The team then recruited dual BTCC champion John Cleland to partner Skaife at Bathurst where Skaife would qualify the car 9th and the pair would finish in a credible 7th outright.
The situation didn't improve in 1997 with the team having to miss some rounds due to funding issues and Skaife leaving the team at the end of the championship to first partner (at Sandown and Bathurst), then replace the retiring Peter Brock at the Holden Racing Team. A lifeline was thrown to the team by Garry Dumbrell, who contracted Gibson Motorsport to prepare his ex Gibson Motorsport Holden VS Commodore for the 1997 endurance races with Darren Hossack and Steven Ellery finishing 6th at Bathurst.[13]
In 1998, the team expanded to three cars, two Wynns cars for Darren Hossack and Darren Pate and a third car for the Holden Young Lions entry for Steven Ellery which was sub-contracted by the Holden Racing Team.[14]
In December 1999 Fred Gibson sold the team to Garry Dumbrell. In 2000 the cars were sponsored by K-Mart with Richards winning in Canberra and the pair finishing 3rd at Bathurst.[16]
Bob Forbes
With the category's star driver, Craig Lowndes, having negotiated his way out of his management contract with Tom Walkinshaw, he was expected to leave the Holden Racing Team at the end of 2000. Ford were very keen to gain his services and a deal was done that was portrayed as Fred Gibson buying back his old team and signing Lowndes to drive. It later emerged that it was Bob Forbes and not Fred Gibson who had bought the team from Garry Dumbrell, with Gibson only have purchased the Racing Entitlement Contract.[17]
An ex Stone Brothers RacingFord AU Falcon was purchased for Lowndes to race throughout the 2001 championship before a Gibson Motorsport car debuted at Bathurst. The team also ran a second car for Rodney Forbes. A falling-out between Forbes and Gibson saw the latter leave the team after Bathurst. As Forbes owned his own Racing Entitlement contract, Gibson sold his to Briggs Motor Sport.[17]
For 2002, the team was rebranded as 00 Motorsport with Neil Crompton driving a second car. At the end of 2002, Ford withdrew their support with Lowndes and Crompton both leaving.[17]
Demise
For 2003, two new BA Falcons were built for Rodney Forbes and Greg Ritter to race. The team closed after round 6 of the series. The Racing Entitlement Contract was sold to Team Brock and the hardware in 2004 to WPS Racing.
Gibson Motorsport first competed in Open-wheel racing in the 1988 Australian Drivers' Championship (also known as the CAMS Gold Star), run for Formula 2 cars. In Round 4 of the championship at the Adelaide International Raceway, Glenn Seton drove a Nissan powered Ralt RT4 to an easy win in what was his only race of the series. Seton was to have had dual driving duties on the day, also debuting the HR31 Skyline in the ATCC race to which the Formula 2 cars were a support category. However, only one of the Skyline's was race ready and with Seton already driving the Ralt, George Fury was given the drive in the new Skyline.
Mark Skaife would go on to win the Gold Star for Gibson in 1991, 1992 and 1993. His win in both the CAMS Gold Star and the ATCC in 1992 saw Skaife become the first, and so far only driver to win both championships in the same year, and he would complete the treble by partnering Jim Richards to win the crash shortened Bathurst 1000.
Rebirth
In 2013, Fred Gibson reformed Gibson Motorsport as a race car preparer for cars participating in the Heritage Touring Cars series. Amongst its clients are the owners of former Gibson Motorsport Nissans. Some of the former race team personnel work on the cars, while former GMS drivers Jim Richards and Mark Skaife have both driven their former Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-Rs in historic competition, while George Fury has also reunited with his Bathurst pole winning Bluebird Turbo.[18][19][20]
Australian Manufacturers' Championship results have not been included as that title was awarded to the manufacturer (e.g. Nissan) rather than to an individual driver or team.
1991 Hush Puppies Olympic Group A Challenge at Adelaide Street Circuit (1991 Australian Grand Prix support races #1 and #2) - Jim Richards (Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R)
1992 Clarks Shoes Group A Finale at Adelaide Street Circuit (1992 Australian Grand Prix support races #1 and #2) - Jim Richards (Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R)
Drivers
Those who drove for Gibson Motorsport in its many guises in touring car racing during its 22 years of competition from 1981-2003 include (in order of appearance):
Mark Stephen SkaifeOAM is an Australian former racing driver. Skaife is a five-time champion of the V8 Supercar Championship Series, including its predecessor, the Australian Touring Car Championship, as well as a six-time Bathurst 1000 winner. On 29 October 2008, he announced his retirement from full-time touring car racing. Since retiring from driving, Skaife has worked as a commentator and presenter for the series for both the Seven Network and Fox Sports Australia.
Jim Richards is a New Zealand racing driver who won numerous championships in his home country and in Australia. While now retired from professional racing, Richards continues to compete in the Touring Car Masters series.
Stone Brothers Racing (SBR) was an Australian motor racing team that competed in the International V8 Supercars Championship between 1998 and 2012. The team was formed in 1998 when Ross and Jim Stone bought Alan Jones's shares in Alan Jones Racing and renamed it Stone Brothers Racing.
The 1990 Australian Touring Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned Australian motor racing title open to Group 3A Touring Cars. The championship, which was the 31st Australian Touring Car Championship, was promoted as the Shell Ultra Australian Touring Car Championship. It began on 25 February 1990 at Amaroo Park and ended on 15 July at Oran Park Raceway after eight rounds.
The 1991 Australian Touring Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title open to Group 3A Touring Cars. The title, which was the 32nd Australian Touring Car Championship, was contested over a nine-round series which began on 24 February 1991 at Sandown Raceway and ended on 11 August at Oran Park Raceway, The series was promoted as the Shell Australian Touring Car Championship and was won by Jim Richards driving a Nissan Skyline GT-R.
The 1991 Tooheys 1000 was a motor race which was staged at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia on 6 October 1991. It was the 32nd running of the Bathurst 1000. The 1000 km race was held for cars complying with the provisions of Australian Group 3A Touring Car regulations with the field divided into three engine capacity divisions. It was the Round 2 of both the 1991 Australian Endurance Championship and the 1991 Australian Manufacturers' Championship.
The 1990 Tooheys 1000 was a motor race held on 30 September 1990 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. The event was open to cars eligible under CAMS Group 3A regulations, commonly known as Group A Touring Cars, with three engine capacity classes. It was the 31st running of the "Bathurst 1000".
Team Dynamik was an Australian motor racing team that competed in Australian V8 Supercar racing between 2001 and 2005.
David John "Skippy" Parsons, is a retired Australian racing driver, who, while never a full-time racing driver, drove for some of the leading racing teams in Australia including the Holden Dealer Team, Perkins Engineering, Glenn Seton Racing and Gibson Motorsport.
George Fury is a retired Australian rally and racing car driver. For the majority of his career Fury was associated with Nissan, twice winning the Australian Rally Championship, and twice runner up in the Australian Touring Car Championship. Fury, a farmer living and working in the New South Wales country town of Talmalmo, was nicknamed "Farmer George" or "The Talmalmo Farmer".
Wayne Gardner Racing was an Australian motor racing team that competed in the Australian Touring Car Championship from 1994 until 1999.
The 1988 Pepsi 250 was an endurance race for Group 3A Touring Cars. The event was held over 100 laps of the 2.620 km (1.628 mi) Oran Park Raceway in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia on 28 August 1988. Total race distance was 262 km (163 mi).
Bob Forbes Racing was an Australian motor racing team that competed in the Australian Touring Car Championship between 1988 and 1993.
Colin Bond Racing was an Australian motor racing team that competed in the Australian Touring Car Championship between 1984 and 1993.
M3 Motorsport was an Australian motor racing team that competed in Australian touring car racing between 1989 and 2003.
The Volvo Dealer Team was an Australian motor racing team that competed in Australian touring car racing in 1986 winning the Australian Touring Car Championship.
Daily Planet Racing was an Australian motor racing team that competed in the Australian Touring Car Championship and V8 Supercars between 1992 and 2000.
Mark Petch Motorsport was a motor racing team that competed in Australian and New Zealand motorsport.
Phil Ward Racing was an Australian motor racing team that competed in touring car racing between 1987 and 1995. The race team would later become the organisation that created and ran the Aussie Racing Cars series.
LoGaMo Racing, also known as Tony Longhurst Racing, was an Australian motor racing team that competed in Australian touring car racing between 1988 and 1994. The team was initially a collaboration between Tony Longhurst and Frank Gardner, with Terry Morris later joining as a shareholder, with their three names combining to create the LoGaMo name. The team is best known for winning the 1988 Bathurst 1000 with Longhurst and Tomas Mezera.
References
↑ Normoyle, Steve (1988). The Great Race 7. Hornsby: Chevron Publishing. ISSN1031-6124.
↑ Normoyle, Steve (1989). The Great Race 8. Hornsby: Chevron Publishing. ISSN1031-6124.
↑ Normoyle, Steve (1990). The Great Race 9. Hornsby: Chevron Publishing. ISSN1031-6124.
↑ Normoyle, Steve (1991). The Great Race 10. Hornsby: Chevron Publishing. ISSN1031-6124.
↑ Normoyle, Steve (1992). The Great Race 11. Hornsby: Chevron Publishing. ISSN1031-6124.
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