V8 Supercars

The series attracted a TWR Rover Vitesse fresh from winning the Group A class at the 1984 Bathurst 1000 for Tom Walkinshaw and Ron Dickson. The Holden Dealer Team was to debut the brand new Holden Commodore VK SS for Peter Brock and Larry Perkins. There would be three of the reliable BMW 635s for Benson & Hedges series winners Neville Crichton/Wayne Wilkinson; 1984 Pukekohe 6-hour winners Kent Baigent/Neal Lowe and one car for John Morton/Frank Sytner. The fast but fragile Pinepac Ford Fairmont (Falcon) XE V8 was back for Dick Johnson and Bruce Anderson. An interesting new entry on the Australasian scene was the Mark Petch entered Volvo 240 Turbo for Robbie Francevic and Michel Delcourt. The rest of the field included a second, local Holden Commodore VK SS, two Toyota Corolla GTs for Paul Adams/Allan Woolf and Bob Holden and Glenn Clark. From Australia there was the Audi 5+5 for Chris Heyer and Graham McGregor and an Alfa Romeo GTV6 for Ray Gulson. The Wellington race was the first round and Dick Johnson surprised by taking pole position in the big Fairmont. He was followed by Kent Baigent, Neville Crichton, Tom Walkinshaw, Peter Brock and Frank Sytner. The Volvo 240 Turbo arrived in the country late and cleared customs just in time to start the race from the back of the grid. In the race itself, Johnson led from the start until the Fairmont broke an axle. The black BMW of Crichton and Wilkinson led for many laps and the new HDT Commodore of Brock and Perkins took a turn to lead briefly. However, the Volvo flew through from the back of the field, got caught up in various incidents which left the bonnet flapping and bumpers handing off, yet still somehow found itself leading the race at the right time and won the race from the Morton/Sytner and Crichton/Wilkinson BMWs.