Roadways Racing was an Australian motor racing team that competed in Australian Touring Car racing in the 1980s. It also competed in the 1986

European Touring Car Championship The European Touring Car Championship was an international touring car racing series organised by the FIA. It had two incarnations, the first one between 1963 and 1988, and the second between 2000 and 2004. In 2005 it was superseded by the World ...

Roadways Racing

Roadways Racing’s origins can be traced back to 1976 when Tasmanian bituminous surfacing company Roadways became the title sponsor of the Gown-Hindhaugh team that raced

Holden Torana The Holden Torana is a mid-sized car that was manufactured by Holden from 1967 to 1980. The name apparently comes from a word meaning "to fly" in an unconfirmed Aboriginal Australian language. The original HB series Torana was released in 196 ...

s and

Commodores Commodores, often billed as The Commodores, are an American funk and Soul music, soul group. The group's most successful period was in the late 1970s and early 1980s when Lionel Richie was the co-lead singer. The members of the group met as m ...

in Australian Touring Car racing. In 1981 Roadways’ proprietor Ian Harrington bought the team. With the end of

Group C Group C was a category of sports car racing introduced by the FIA in 1982 and continuing until 1993, with ''Group A'' for Touring car racing, touring cars and ''Group B'' for Grand tourer, GTs. It was designed to replace both Group 5 (motorspor ...

in 1984 and son Steve moving to Europe to compete in

Formula 3 Formula Three (F3) is a third-tier class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. History Formula Three (adop ...

, Harrington closed the team.

Roadways Racing Services

In 1985 former Roadways Racing team manager Les Small formed Roadways Racing Services. The team prepared cars for other drivers before making its race debut at the 1985 Sandown 500. In

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

Roadways entered the

with Allan Grice sharing the driving with Graeme Bailey and Michel Delcourt. Although funding was tight, Grice lead a number of races and usually out qualified the Mobil Holden Dealer Team Commodore of

Peter Brock Peter Geoffrey Brock (26 February 1945 – 8 September 2006), known as "Peter Perfect", "The King of the Mountain", or simply "Brocky", was an Australian motor racing driver. Brock was most often associated with Holden for almost 40 years, al ...

and

Allan Moffat Allan George Moffat, Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 10 November 1939 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada) is a Canadian-born Australian racing driver known for his four championships in the Australian Touring Car Championship, six wins ...

. During Round 3 of the ETCC at

Hockenheim Hockenheim () is a town in northwest Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about 20 km south of Mannheim and 10 km west of Walldorf. It is located in the Upper Rhine Plain, Upper Rhine valley on the tourist theme routes "Baden Asparagus Route" ( ...

, Grice had a dice for the lead with the factory backed Volvo 240T turbo's of

Johnny Cecotto Johnny Alberto Cecotto Persello (born 25 January 1956), better known as Johnny Cecotto, is a Venezuelan people, Venezuelan former professional Grand Prix motorcycle racing, Grand Prix motorcycle racer and auto racing, auto racer. He rose to pro ...

and Ulf Granberg until a collision with a spinning backmarker ended his race with heavy damage to the front of the car. During the dice, Grice set a new touring car track record for the 6.823 km (4.24 mi) circuit where they held the

German Grand Prix The German Grand Prix () was a motor race that took place most years since 1926, with 75 races having been held. The race has been held at only three venues throughout its history: the Nürburgring in Rhineland-Palatinate, Hockenheimring in B ...

. His time of 2:24.74 would stand until 2000. Roadways also prepared a customer car for Bailey in which he contested a few rounds of the 1986 Australian Touring Car Championship and teamed with Grice to win the 1986 Bathurst 1000. After a plan to contest the 1987 World Touring Car Championship with a Nissan Skyline DR30 RS fell through, Roadways and Grice returned to compete in the 1987 Australian Touring Car Championship with backing from

Bob Jane T-Marts Bob Jane T-Marts is a chain of tire stores founded by former race car driver Bob Jane in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia in 1965. The company has grown to encompass over 100 franchises across Australia. Overview The company remains an independ ...

and Holden Motorsport, originally with a Holden VK Commodore SS Group A that the team had been so successful with in 1986 before upgrading to the VL model Group A Commodore early in the season. Grice put in some solid performances in the 1987 Australian Touring Car Championship, his first full championship run since

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

, but could only finish in 8th place. Grice was then joined by British driver Win Percy for the 1987 Sandown 500 where the car was out on just lap 2, before being the leading Holden qualifier and runner for the first half of the 1987 James Hardie 1000, running in either 2nd or 3rd place behind the Eggenberger

Ford Sierra RS500 The Ford Sierra RS Cosworth is a high-performance version of the Ford Sierra that was built by Ford Europe from 1986 to 1992. It was the result of a Ford Motorsport project with the purpose of producing an outright winner for Group A racing in ...

's until a rear axle failure on lap 96 ended their race while in a strong second place. With Grice driving a Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R for the Howard Marsden run Nissan Europe team in the 1988 European Touring Car Championship, the team sat out most of the season, only competing at the

Bathurst 1000 The Bathurst 1000 (known for sponsorship reasons as the Repco Bathurst 1000) is a Touring car racing, touring car race held annually on the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently run as part of the Supe ...

and

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

with two TWR Commodore VLs, one for Grice and now regular co-driver Percy and one that had been built for Garry Rogers. In 1989 Roadways completed a limited campaign with Grice driving at Winton, Bathurst and

. At the tight Winton circuit in a wet-dry-wet race, Grice put in a great showing and even led at one stage before eventually finishing 4th being the only top 10 driver not to change tyres during the race. Grice's 4th place was also the highest placing by a Holden driver in the 1989 Australian Touring Car Championship1989 Australian GP Support Race
Touringcar.net By this stage Roadways had diversified into preparing AUSCARs and NASCARs. In a break from its Holden traditions, Roadways built a Ford EB Falcon in

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

for the new 5.0L V8 series, but it never appeared on track. The business has since been rebranded Advanced Vehicle Design and continues to manufacture components for racing cars in various categories including the V8 Ute Racing Series.

Bathurst 1000 Win

References

{{Reflist Australian auto racing teams Sports clubs and teams in Victoria (state)