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Edition

Australia

Surfers Paradise: Legends of SuperGP summary

LEGENDS OF THE SUPERGP A Pirtek Australian Legends show to remember was put together last weekend at the Nikon SuperGP for over 200,000 fans with only 3 days notice following the A1GP car no show. Event organisers in conjunction with QLD Minister ...

LEGENDS OF THE SUPERGP

A Pirtek Australian Legends show to remember was put together last weekend at the Nikon SuperGP for over 200,000 fans with only 3 days notice following the A1GP car no show. Event organisers in conjunction with QLD Minister for Child Safety and Sport, Phil Reeves, Bowden's Own Premium Car Care, and some of Australia's greatest motor racing history legends, all came together at the last minute to fill in the gap left by the A1GP cars.

Motor racing history legends and sons of legends came from all over Australia, and 10 of the 12 car line up were transported to the Gold Coast from the Bowden's Own Premium Car Care headquarters in the Sunshine Coast at the last minute. Dan Bowden, owner of Bowden's Own Premium Car Care said all this can be attributed to true Aussie Spirit. "When Australia, and especially Queensland for our family, calls for your assistance in their time of need it is natural, as an Australian, that you do everything you can to make sure it will happen. And that is what every single person that comprised the Pirtek Australian Legends category did." Dan said.

The Bowden's Own Premium Car Care crew worked through the night most days of the Nikon SuperGP to make sure as many of the cars as possible were ready to hit the track and put on a great show for all the fans. And what a performance they put on. "It normally would take us months to get 10 cars track ready, especially cars that have been sitting in a showroom and have not been on the track at close to race speeds for a very long time. We only had 3 days! It was lucky all the engines were given a quick tune up for our recent Sound Tour event where we started up close to 30 cars in our collection for our car care customers. If it wasn't for this, I am not sure we would have been able to pull it all together in time." Dan said.

Dick Johnson drove his legendary Tru Blu XD Falcon on the Thursday before it was retired for the weekend after one lap due to oil pressure issues. He jumped into the Greens Tuf Falcon for the rest of the weekend that his son, Steven Johnson, drove on Thursday before he had to get back into his V8 Supercar. Bob Morris drove Peter Brock's '78 A9X Torana on Thursday and Friday before he took the wheel of his old '79 Championship winning A9X Torana on Sunday. James Brock drove his late father's '78 Bathurst and championship winning A9X on Saturday and Sunday due to the VL Commodore, his father won the '87 race with, experienced engine issues that could not be resolved following the Thursday run around the track. Colin Bond in Beechey's Monaro blew the gear box on Friday, but it was rebuilt and he had a dream run for the remainder of weekend. John French drove a car he raced alongside back in the day, the Allan Moffat's GTHO Phase 3. Every day of the SuperGP, Moffat's GTHO Phase 3 ran without any issues. Jim Richards had the pleasure of getting back in the driver's seat of his '86 JPS 635 BMW for the entire weekend. Jim and Dick relived old memories of racing against each other on the track, putting on a great show for all the SuperGP fans as they fought for front position giving the cars everything they had. Dan and Chris Bowden shared the driving for their most prized cars, Moffat's '69 Trans Am Mustang and Geoghegan's Super Falcon. The Mustang, driven by Chris on Thursday and Friday and Dan on Saturday and Sunday, took to the track just as it left it 40 years earlier. However, the Super Falcon did not have as glorious a weekend, giving Dan strife on Thursday and Friday due to issues with the fuel foam breaking down and clogging the fuel pumps. But it was back in fine form for Chris, and the rest of the SuperGP crowd, on Sunday. "All the cars looked as good, if not better, than they did back in their hey-days up to 40 years ago. A true testament to dad's (David Bowden) passion and commitment to restoring and maintaining these muscle machines especially for times such as these. And I guess to our car care for making sure they look their very best on the track. We had comments all weekend about how good our cars looked on the track and in the pits. Something everyone at Bowden's Own Premium Car Care is very proud of, and the exact reason why we decided to produce our own car care products." Dan said.

It was a magnificent weekend, and one Premier Anna Bligh has committed to ensuring will continue for years to come. This week marks the start of a one month review into this year's race event resulting in a report about its future including the option of ramping up the Australian Legends category as a permanent fixture to the event schedule.

The Bowden family own Australia's greatest private collection of muscle, racing and touring cars, located at the Bowden's Own Premium Car Care headquarters in the Sunshine Coast. For more information on their private tours, corporate functions, events, cars or car care, visit www.bowdensown.com.au.

-credit: bowdensown

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