News
YOULDEN GOES RETRO FOR TCM RETURN
IT’S NOT JUST the Supercars teams going retro this month – Touring Car Masters teams are getting into the spirit too.
Ahead of his return to the series this weekend at Phillip Island Brett Youlden has unveiled his HQ GTS Monaro with a new livery that acts as a tribute to the 1979 Australian Touring Car Championship winning Holden Torana driven by the great Bob Morris.
Though obviously a different model of classic Holden muscle car the iconic green white and blue of Morris’ Ron Hodgson Motors Channel 7 Torana is clearly apparent in Youlden’s new scheme.
It will carry the colours this weekend at Phillip Island and then at Bathurst this October.
“The green I’ve always had on my car was basically the same as the colour Bob’s Torana used to be so we thought we’d add the blue and the white and it looks pretty awesome†Youlden said.
“The waist line of the HQ is a bit lower than the Torana so there’s a bit more green than on the original but we think it’s come up a treat.
“We’ve made some improvements to the car from a performance point of view but we thought we should do something different with the look of the car too.â€Â
Youlden has spoken to the 1976 Bathurst winner who has endorsed the tribute livery.
“I sent a picture of it to Bob when it was nearly done and he loved it†Youlden said.
“I’ve spoken to him at length about those times and we’d love to get him along to Bathurst this October so he can see it in person – he’d be a bit of an ambassador which would be sensational.
“We’re especially keen to run the car at Bathurst given the 10th anniversary commemorations around Brocky’s passing that will be going on. He and Bob had some great battles over the years and I think this is a pretty cool tribute to both of them.
“I’ve even got ‘Morris-Questor’ on the side of the car as a tribute to their Bathurst campaign.”
The Austrian driver Dieter Questor drove with Morris at Bathurst in 1979 (failing to finish after starting second) and the year prior in a second Ron Hodgson Motors Racing Torana he shared with LeMans winner Derek Bell.
Youlden’s car isn’t the first to run a heritage livery in TCM this year several examples of ‘nods’ to the history of the sport having been incorporated into liveries this year.
Most visible is Jason Gomersall’s tribute to the Holden Dealer Team with his new A9X Torana while Steven Johnson’s XY GTHO Falcon sports the iconic green and white of Ian ‘Pete’ Geoghegan’s ‘Super Falcon’ he raced in the early 1970s.
Bruce Williams’ SLR 5000 Torana seen at Winton this year runs the blue and yellow of the Gown-Hindhaugh livery made famous by Peter Brock and Brian Sampson at Bathurst in 1975.
The late Bill Pye ran a Bob Jane T-Marts livery on his Chevrolet Camaro during his time in the category as a nod to the Touring Car great’s iconic Orange Camaro from the same era.