 |
PETER BROCKBROCKY’S
|
 |
|||||||||||||
 |
PETER BROCK It was a tremendous honour and pleasure for the staff at Daytona Sports Cars to have had the opportunity to work with Peter Brock. He was an enthusiastic supporter of our product with an excited attitude for its further potential. Along with many plans, it was his hope to run the car in the Bathurst 24 Hour, and had dreams of steering it around the fabled Nurburgring in Germany. Words can only understate ours, and many other fans loss, when he passed on September 8th, 2006. As a mark of respect, all of Daytona Sports Cars current and future cars, wear a specially made plaque in his memory. It should also be know that Peter was not hired by Daytona Sports Cars, and never asked to be financially rewarded. It was his wish to drive the car, and the gentleman's agreement between himself and Richard Bendell, was that it was his car to borrow for whatever event he desired to compete in. |
||||||||||||||
BROCKY'S DAYTONA STORY When Richard mentioned in passing that he was unable to run the Factory Car as he was without a driver, Greg told him he knew someone 'looking for a drive'. Within 10 minutes of their conversation ending, the phone rang again. This time it was Peter Brock, who said to Richard, 'I believe you have a car available to drive?' Without thought, an enthusiastic 'It's yours' was Richard's reply, and Peter Brock's partnership with Daytona Sports Cars was born. Peter's first drive of the car was around the quiet streets surrounding the Daytona Sports Cars factory in the Dromana Industrial Estate, on the Mornington Peninsula. Comfortable with the seating position, pedals and so on, Peter then went about track testing the car at Calder Park Raceway in Melbourne's outer suburbs. With only minor adjustments to shockers and front bar, the car was then prepared in 'Brock livery'. As Peter told it, he was at the A.G.P. in Melbourne, noticed the Mercedes Benz course car in Dark Silver and decided instantly, that was the colour for his Daytona. Complimented with pale silver GT stripes, it was a nicely understated colour scheme after the cars previous hue of bright orange. In the weeks leading up to Targa, Peter and his long time friend and first time navigator, Mick Hone came down to the factory from time to time, most notably to affix the Targa decals to their car. Peter Brock does his own signage we all exclaimed! Not only that, it was with artistic consideration and great care. He just loved to be involved. After graciously supplying the team with Daytona/Team Brock jackets, we made our way to Australia's southern most state, for the 15th running of Targa Tasmania. 2006 TARGA TASMANIA |
|||||||||||||||
April 25th 2006 - Prologue Peter and Mick finished the Prologue 6th fastest, with a time of 2:56:40 only 6.2 seconds behind fastest qualifier Jim Richards. Unfortunately, an inappropriate choice of tyres meant that Peter was going to have to be very careful to conserve his tires for the remainder of the event. |
 |
||||||||||||||
April 27th Leg 2 |
|
The Sideling =15th April 29th Leg 4 |
Sadly for Peter, Mick and |
April 30th Leg 5 Total Penalty Time (hh.mm.ss) 00:20.48 Outright Position 12th Category Position 9LMS 8th Class Position 9LMSD 7th Targa Trophy achieved |
|||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||
|
Next on Peter's self penned list of events was the Lake Mountain Sprint. Held over the weekend 27-28th of May 2006, competitors made the dash to the summit four times each day, their cumulative times determining the winner. With a new gearbox, a more appropriate set of tires, Without the benefit of a reconnaissance run, the team of Brock and Hone suffered, albeit only slightly, against the White/White combination in their Lamborghini Gallardo, A slow first run possibly the only thing stopping a Comparing the overall time difference with the 24.26sec split between Brock/Hone's and the White's first run of Peter and Mick finished the weekend as the fastest two wheel drive, and posted the second fastest run overall |
 |
||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||
|
Eager to continue campaigning the Factory Coupe, Peter was back at the wheel on August 20, 2006, making a return to Calder Park Motor Raceway. This time for a much more relaxing outing, as a participant in the Maserati Club of Australia's 2006 Trident Track Day. Clocking up 8 laps in Practice, his 6th lap time of 1min 03.05sec was the fastest timed lap of the morning. Despite using the worn intermediate tires he ran at Lake Mountain, Peter went on the finish the day fastest outright, with a best lap time of 1min 01.31sec. Of the 14 laps he completed in the Official Timed Session, nine of them where between 1:01.31 and 1:01.98 Although the Trident Track Day was really just a bit of fun, it was also to serve as a preparation run for Peter's next event, the Targa West Rally. Following another visit to Calder in the following week for the final few set-up tweaks, and the car was signed off, packed and shipped to Perth. In the couple of weeks leading up to Targa West, Richard and Peter made their way to The Goodwood Revival Race Meeting in England. Richard and Peter's partner Julie Bamford, two of the few Aussie's attending, privileged to watch first hand as Peter campaigned Phil Munday's beautifully restored FX Holden. At the events end, Peter Brock had found himself the recipient of 'The Spirit of Goodwood' award. Although it had been suggested otherwise, Peter Brock returned home from Goodwood a few days prior to the start of the 2006 Targa West Rally, and arrived ready to compete in the car he had prepared weeks in advance. September 8th, on the start line of Stage 1, his words to navigator Mick Hone 'We can win this one Mickey'. Anyone reading this would most likely know that Peter passed away on the following stage. It had been only been a six month relationship between Peter Brock and Daytona Sports Cars, but it will remain the most significant and enjoyable six months our small company will ever experience. Australia has run out of superlatives to describe Peter Brock, but we at Daytona Sports Cars will remember him as a Gentleman of the highest order. |
|||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||
BACK TO TOP Peter Brock was always enthusiastic about his next project, and when he called me early in 2006 to tell me had secured a very special car for Targa Tasmania and I was going to be his co-driver I was instantly infected by Brock's enthusiasm. The Daytona is a great looking classic 1960s sports car. It oozed appeal, and with modern technology, was a combination of classic motoring style and state of the art engineering. Richard Bendell had recreated a wonderful vehicle. I had no idea about navigating, but with the confidence and instruction from PB, I learnt a lot very quickly. A day spent driving around the hills of the Diamond Valley in Peter's Holden using our home made route maps, gave me a glimpse of what was ahead. One amazing aspect of PB was his ability to enlist the help of others in achieving a common goal. The Daytona factory guys and some loyal contacts from V8 racing, contributed in helping to get the Daytona to the start line in Tasmania. Peter was rapt in the Daytona and just fizzed at the performance potential with some special Brock development. Initial changes were made with positive results but we saw it as only the tip of the development iceberg. Winning a stage and being top five in other legs gave some indication of where we were against some very professional opposition. Peter said many times “If we could get the back of this thing hooked up- they would not see where we went”. To be ultra competitive we needed equal rubber to the front-runners. I think we both learnt a lot in the Targa event. Obviously I had a lot more to learn than Peter. Next event was Lake Mountain and with a new wheel and tyre combo things felt pretty good. The fact that it snowed and was freezing most of the weekend did give the 4WD brigade a marked advantage but the Daytona surprised with an excellent second position overall. We had stepped forward a lot. More meetings with the Bendell crew and Michael Borland, and more development before testing at Calder. The Daytona was absolutely flying and well prepared for our next adventure in Targa West 06. |
|||||||||||||||
What happened in WA was a terrible accident. Peter showed me how to drive and navigate. I saw how his eyes lit up when we spoke about future pursuits in the Daytona. How we could improve this and change that. Peter also taught me a lot about respect and I saw it everyday in the way he treated the many people who crossed our paths. Peter changed the direction of the Daytona project. |
|||||||||||||||