Boy is this video of Peter Brock hauling around the famed Bathurst course in 1986 is awesome. The best part of about it? As Brock is running flat-ass-out around the challenging track he is performing an interview in about the same tone one would perform it while sitting on their living room couch! Seriously, you can hear the little small block in the front of his Holden wound all the way out and he’d rowing gears and working the wheel while having a nice chat with the host of this race. He waves to his family, rests his arm on the window and even drives with one hand at times, using his other hand to point things out as he’s running along. Without question Brock is one of the greatest Aussie drivers of all time. He won Bathurst nine times and was dubbed, “King of the Mountain” on the same year that this video was made. When he won the race in 1979, he did it by SIX FRIGGIN’ LAPS.
Brock was most well known for racing Holden (GM) cars although he did have seat time in other brands over the years his name will always be associated with Holden. The car he is racing in this video is a modified Holden Commodore SS and it sounds boss as he hammers up and down through the gears. Outside of Australia, Brock made his mark at big races like the 24 Hours of Spa, he competed at LeMans, ran some races in the World Touring Car Championship, and was generally considered a total bad ass. We literally cannot get over how relaxed he is in this car. We know the mark of a good race car driver is that relaxed and composed, loose state but holy smokes, this is other-worldly. Smokey Yunick talks about a thing called, “Seat Gap” in his book. If he could see between the driver’s back and the front of the seat, that was “seat gap” and it wasn’t something he wanted to see. Drivers who were sitting back, relaxed, and hauling ass meant that the driver and car were in synch. If there was “seat gap” that meant things weren’t going well. As you’ll see in this video, there ain’t a lick of “seat gap” with Brock.
In conversation he talks about passing people, “Hang on, there’s a little Toyota here….” About that point he goes into narrating an entire lap as he goes around. This is honestly one of the coolest racing videos we have ever seen. Compare his demeanor to that of Darryl Waltrip who famously took a lap around the course in a V8 Super Car a couple years back and nearly pissed his pants about 40 times. The motor sounds amazingly good as well. The sound levels of the screaming engine and his voice are dead nuts perfect.
Hell, the guy jokingly asks if he should dictate a damned letter while driving! “I’ve never seen anyone quick so relaxed as that….” one announcer says incredulously. Neither have we.
PRESS PLAY BELOW TO SEE THE LEGENDARY PETE BROCK LIVE UP TO EVERYTHING YOU HAVE EVER HEARD ABOUT HIM IN THIS INCREDIBLE VIDEO –
