In AMC #111 we featured the just-restored Ralph Radburn/John Smith Torana A9X that finished third at Bathurst in 1979. It was a remarkable result given Radburn at the time was a little-known privateer making only his third start in the race.
But as the story also revealed, there were extenuating circumstances behind this surprise performance. For one, the equipment wasn’t half bad, the car being an ex-Allan Grice Craven-Mild Racing four-door A9X (the chassis the team took to Bathurst in ’77 as a spare). And crucially, the purchase also included some valuable after-sales service.
For the ’79 race, much of the preparation was done by Les Small alongside Grice’s own car – in a way it was almost the sister team car to the Grice/Frank Gardner two-door A9X at Bathurst that year.
After Radburn took delivery of the car in mid '78, he was given a few driving tips in an A9X road car around Oran Park by both Gardner and Gricey. So by the time the ’79 race came around, Ralph was at the top of his game behind the wheel (and his co-driver John Smith was no slouch, at the time a 26 year-old rising openwheeler star).
This top pic (from the Better Brakes 10,000 event at Amaroo Park in July ’78) shows what we suspect is Radburn’s first race start in the car, which as can be seen is still in its Craven-Mild livery. It makes us wonder: was this the only time two ‘Craven-Mild’ Toranas ever started in the same race?
.jpg&q=70&h=226&w=176&c=1&s=1)
