RIP Peter Brock.

[Mr Camouflage]

Latest News reports state that Peter Brock died at today (September 8, 2006), in a racing accident after colliding with a tree during TargaWest '06 in Western Australia, near the township of Gidgegannup.

Brock was driving with Mick Hone in a Daytona Coupe.

http://www9.sbs.com.au/theworldnews/region.php?id=131182&region=7

[boyblunda]

Unbelievable that Australia should lose a second icon personality in the same week. North Americans might confuse this name with their own contemperaneous motorsport leading character but the Australian Peter Brock was something very very special over here. Called "Peter Perfect" for his driving skills, he was also a truly fantastic ambassador and a household name in Australia.

Another leading Australian lost to us when he still had so very much to offer.

RIP

[260DET]

Fvck this, what is going on????? Losing people of real quality, how about a politician or 200 instead?

[240znz]

Peter had been in the UK less than 24hours before the crash. I wonder if he had given himself enough time to get over the flight and jet lag. We'll never know now but it makes you think doesn't it.

Memories of the Holden mob on the top of the mountain going mad as Peter Perfect drove to victory is etched in my memories. He remains a legend.

Such a shame and waste of another great Australian.

[HS30-H]

Peter had been in the UK less than 24hours before the crash.

Yes, he was guesting at the Goodwood Revival Meeting. I was there on Friday, and there were huge crowds around the Holden FX that he was driving. I could hardly get near it.

This was the first time that Peter Brock and the Holden had appeared at the Revival, and it created a lot of interest. His reputation and achievements put him on a par with some of the greatest drivers that ever lived, and many of us at the meeting were well aware of that.

I was listening to a fascinating interview with him on the Goodwood radio channel as I drove down to the event. I made a mental note at the time to try and read up a bit more about his career. Can't believe he's gone.

Very sad.

[Gav240z]

Yes I'm very sad . I will truely miss him even if I wasn't born till half his career had already started. He was a very likeable character.

[Carl Beck]

Hi Gang:

Needless to say that when I first read the "Subject" of this thread... I was more than a bit shocked!! Then as I read the news article referenced in the first Post... I realized it was not my friend Peter, but rather the famous Australian Peter Brock.

I received the following from Gayle Brock, - the USA's Peter Brock's wife, and I reprint it here with her permission.

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To: Carl Beck

From: Gayle Brock

Subject: Peter Brock - Australian

It is with great sadness we have learned the Australian race driver, Peter Brock, was killed in a crash in the Australian Targa Rally today. We had just seen Peter last weekend in the UK at the Goodwood Revival, commenting on the ever-increasing confusion between the Australian Peter Brock and the American Peter Brock with the Australian’s latest foray of driving a replica Cobra Daytona Coupe in competition. Although the American Peter Brock is not associated with this Australian-built replicar, he is known, amongst other things, as the designer of the original Cobra Daytona Coupe in 1964 and the Superformance Cobra Daytona Coupe in 1999. At Goodwood last weekend, the Australian Brock drove a Corvette Stingray, a car the American Peter Brock designed while at GM in the late 1950s. Further confusion has occurred with news reports stating Peter Brock had just returned from Goodwood and was killed in a rally in WA (referring to Western Australia). The American Peter Brock had just returned from Goodwood to his US residence in WA State.

The Australian Peter Brock was a racing icon in Australia and New Zealand winning the Bathurst touring car race a record 9 times. The American Peter Brock had great respect for the Australian driver and interviewed him almost 10 years ago for an article in Racer magazine entitled “Brock on Brock.” It is extremely sad to see the end of such an accomplished career although it is colored with the thought of how the Australian went out doing what he loved. Our sincerest condolences go out to his family.

Peter and I want to thank the hundreds of people who have contacted our offices today to check on the American Peter Brock. We always feel very fortunate in life but maybe just a little more so today.

Sincerely,

Gayle

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FWIW,

Carl B.

[Alfadog]

Peter Perfect.

King of the Mountain.

Brocky.

An awesome driver, motorsport legend, and a down-to-Earth, fair dinkum bloke. He was a hero to many and an icon to all. Rest in peace Brocky.

[boyblunda]

Many people outside Australia will not recognize the significance of the above title unless they have ever seen in car foootage of the Bathurst circuit which ascends and descends Mount Panorama - this circuit is THE circuit of Australian touring car racing and is an awesome place.

For those who have never heard of or whom knew little about the Australian Peter Brock, The following is a quote from MSN news:

Yet again Australia mourns the loss of an icon — this time motor sport legend Peter Brock who was killed in a rally accident north-east of Perth today.

The Confederation of Australian Motor Sport confirmed that the 61-year-old died after colliding with a tree while competing in the Targa West '06 rally just before midday on Friday. Brock and his co-driver, who was taken to hospital in a stable condition, were in a 2001 Daytona Coupe.

Brock was a dominant figure in Australian motor sport, his name synonymous with Holden racing cars.

He first got behind the wheel of Holden Monaro GTS 350 in 1969. Three years later he won his first Bathurst title in a Torana XU1.

Brock went on to win the Bathurst 1000 a total of nine times in the 1970s and 80s, and he won it a remarkable six times in seven years.

His achievements earned him the nickname “King of the Mountain”, and he was also dubbed “Peter Perfect” for holding more pole positions and winning more races than anyone since the start of the Australian Touring Car Championship in1960.

Brock retired from full-time V8 Supercar racing in 1997, having firmly established himself as an Australian sporting great.

After his retirement, he made two return visits to Bathurst in 2002 and 2004 and returned to top-level touring car racing as a team owner of "Team Brock" in 2002 in the V8 Supercar category.

Recently, he competed in various other motor sport events such as the Targa Tasmania.

Brock spent his spare time charity fund-raising, working with the Peter Brock Foundation which focuses on helping disadvantaged youth, and supporting road safety initiatives.

What people may not readily know is that Peter Brock also did very well in desert rallies and had a brief dabble in car rallying when he won the demanding 1979 Round Australia Repco Reliability Trial, and then later that year drove the same family sedan design car to a fifth outright in the Castrol International Rally around Canberra when he was competing against the (dominant at the time) BDA Escorts and Factory Datsuns - a truly outstanding performance.

His work for charities is also largely unrecognised. I remember in one charity event his wife at the time, Bev Brock teamed with I think John Farnham's wife while competing against their respective husbands in the Bourke to Broome rally across the top of Australia - short story is that the ladies won. Bev Brock was (in)famous for saying in the victory speech that winning the event was "easier than childbirth".

Brock also accompanied the Australian Olympic team to Athens in 2004 as a community member / advisor / consultant / motivator to team members.

He thoroughly deserves the State funeral that is being arranged for him and will be very sadly missed. His passing is truly a terrible loss - particularly as he was still contributing so much to Australian life.

[chris b]

My first motor race as a spectator was at Sandown in Victoria as a young boy and Peter Brock was racing in a sports sedan (?) the A30 with the Holden motor. From memory the racing between him in the A30 and a Fiat Arbath was close and exciting with Brocky usually winning if it was dry and the Fiat being able to out barake him and get around the A30 if it was wet. As motor sport went it was fantastic with the A 30 being really hairy and sideways and the Arbath neat and tidy always on the racing line. This got me interested in motor sport for life.

Later I was on the mountain at Bathurst as a spectator and caught up in the whole Holden versus Ford and Brock versus Moffat bit.

I seem to remember seeing him in a round Australia event in the mid 90's when I lived in Kununurra. I cannot remember what event this was because the famous Repco around Australia event that he won in the VB(?) Commodore was about a decade earlier.

About two years ago Peter Brock visited my bookshop. He was supporting his then wife Bev who had written a biography. Hundreds of fans turned up and he made sure to spend some time talking with each of them. After the signing he was most concerned that a young disabled fan would be able to get a signed book and went out of his way to make it happen.

After the signing Bev wanted to do some shopping so Peter was quite happy to sit discuss the current motor racing scene and chat generally with our staff for about an hour and a half. He was a genuinely nice guy. His interest in people and his charisma was such that he won over the non motor racing fan booksellers. One of our literary types couldn't believe that a rev-head could be so knowledgeable and interested in so many issues.

Many people will chronicle his achievements and the good things that he has done. I just wanted to say that he had an impact on my life and it was a real bonus to later find out first hand that he was the real thing and a genuinely nice guy.

chris b