Iconic replica revives Aussie motorsport legacy

Brock’s racing campaign the following year with co-driver Brian Sampson in a 1975 Holden Torana SL/R 5000 made a statement with a triumphant victory at the Bathurst 1000.

The privateer team did not have the seemingly endless budget of factory race teams, yet the Torana still became the car to beat.

In what became known as the ‘grand slam of endurance racing’, Brock and Sampson’s elite 1975 campaign was nothing short of impressive.

They narrowly won the Sandown 250 to grab the prize money they needed to pump into their Bathurst run.

During their Bathurst 1000 assault, they secured a two-lap victory over the field, making up for a devastating engine failure while leading the same race the year before.

For a trifecta of first-place podium places that year, they also claimed victory at the Phillip Island 500.

Only 263 L34 units — a homologation special featuring a race-developed 5.0L V8 with stouter internals and distinctive bolt-on wheel flares — were ever built.

However, this 1975 winner did not end up preserved in a museum.

Instead, it was sold to a racer in Tasmania and converted into a road car before meeting with a telephone pole under less than ideal circumstances in a serious road accident.

It was written off, with parts reportedly stripped off it before the front was grafted on to another car, the rear winding up at the scrap yard.

A very near replica exists of the iconic 1975 and it’s currently on the showroom floor of Kialla’s MOVE museum.