National Motor Racing Museum Exhibition

The National Motor Racing Museum has opened a new exhibition, Group C Touring Cars 1973-1984, to coincide with the 40 year anniversary of the end of Group C regulations in Australian Touring Car racing. 

Mayor Cr Robert Taylor said this special exhibition celebrates the Group C era of touring car racing, and looks back at an era fondly remembered by Australian race fans as one of the greatest in our sport’s history, featuring the likes of Peter Brock, Allan Moffatt, Dick Johnson and Larry Perkins.  

“The Group C regulations was an era that saw some of the most legendary and memorable cars and drivers take to Australian circuits, with the Bathurst 1000 at the forefront. 

“This is when the race at Mount Panorama first ran to 1000 kilometres, and saw the remarkable domination of Peter Brock, who won seven of the twelve Bathurst 1000s run in the Group C period. 

“It was also the time that saw the leap to colour broadcast in the mid-1970s, and, in 1979, Channel 7’s world-leading in-car camera, Racecam, which allowed the fans at home to experience the challenge of the race. This really cemented the Great Race in becoming an Australian institution,” Cr Taylor said. 

Brad Owen, Coordinator of the National Motor Racing Museum said the Museum has assembled an incredible display of cars from the period, with loans from private collectors taking pride of place alongside vehicles from the museum’s collection.  

“Some of the cars that have come in for the exhibition are the 1975 Ford Capri driven by Bo Seton in the 1975 Bathurst 1000; the 1979 Holden LX Torana SS A9X and one of the most controversial cars of the Group C era, the 1983 Mazda RX-7, driven by Murray Carter in Bathurst in 1983.  The stars of the show are the two 1984 VK Commodores from the Holden Dealer Team that finished 1st and 2nd in the 1984 James Hardie 1000, together for the very first time since 1985,”  Mr Owen said. 

The exhibition “Group C Touring Cars 1973-1984” is on at the National Motor Racing Museum, 400 Panorama Avenue, Mount Panorama. Open: 9am-4.30pm daily, closed Tuesdays. Open seven days per week during NSW school holidays.