When the late Kerry Packer got involved in anything, he did it in the biggest possible way. In 1980 he decided to promote his Nine Network by entering a car in the Hardie Ferodo 1000 at Bathurst. If nothing else, it would annoy the rival Seven Network which televised the race each year. If the Nine Sports car actually won, it would be a major embarrassment for the opposition network.
Kevin Bartlett was recruited to head the project, and after initially considering a BMW he settled on a Chev Camaro. Very quickly Bartlett managed to turn the big American muscle car into a seriously competitive race machine. He took pole position in 1980 and 1981 (with a mighty performance in the wet) but the car was too unreliable to win - and too under-braked, with motorsport's controlling body CAMS refusing to allow the big Chev to upgrade from rear drum brakes to discs. Then in 1982 KB famously put the ‘Channel 6’ Camaro on its roof.
By then Packer had decided to move on to new business ventures. Still, in its short but spectacular life the Nine Sports Camaro became a crowd favourite, and and remains one of the best-looking muscle cars ever to compete in the big race.
For the full story on KB's Camaro, check out our cover feature story in Issue 36 here.
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