PETER BROCK: THE KING OF THE MOUNTAIN WE MISS YOU…

There’s no doubt that Peter Brock remains one of the biggest names in Australian motorsport despite the fact he was tragically killed nearly 10 years ago.

When you think of the nine-time Bathurst winner you associate one number with him – 05.

It became a number closely connected with the majority of Brock’s career from the time he first carried it 40 years ago at Sandown in 1975.

But what happened to the Torana L34 that he was driving when he first carried the soon-to-become famous 05?

To trace the story of this car you need to understand the period of time and where Brock was in his career.

He left the Holden Dealer Team at the end of the previous season with the ambition of racing overseas, however some of those big plans fell through.

So just how was he going to defend his 1974 Australian Touring Car Championship, with no car and no team?

The answer came in the form of Gown-Hindhaugh Engine Developments, a small Melbourne privateer race team comprising engine builder Norm Gown and team manager Bruce Hindhaugh.

In their workshop sat a yellow Holden Torana L34. This car and the team that built it, combined with Brock’s unquestionable talent and experience with the Holden product, would form the basis of a solid privateer campaign for the ’75 ATCC.

That was the plan anyway. Many had already written off Brock and the fledgling Gown-Hindhaugh team, and a string of mechanical failures throughout the championship only sought to reinforce this view.

But reliability wasn’t the team’s only concern. Sponsorship money was drying up, leaving them with little to spend on developing the car.