What a great race and what a great track. Awesome. Lakeside was a like a miniature Phillip Island to me. Fast & flowing, the cars never had to slow down much. Most of today's circuits are garbage.
If only the mustang came with a 351c; Dickie could have made it into a real competitive car. The old 302 just didn't have the grunt for that heavy body, you can see he doesn't pull on the 3.5L BMW at all down the straights.
Group A regulations meant that even if the 351 were available, the car would have to have weighed even more. This is why Holden produced a Commodore with a very slightly smaller engine (just under 5 litres) for 1986 - to be permitted to run less weight. I've always wondered why Johnson didn't experiment with the SVO 2.3 litre turbo engine, the same as in the Sierra XR4Ti which was a lighter engine with roughly the same power. It would also have helped understand turbochargers for when the Sierra Cosworth arrived. Andy Rouse and Eggenberger realised this, and both were winners using this power plant in 1986. And then there is the Fred Gibson Nissan effort to consider. Turbochargers were the way forward in touring car racing as the 80's progressed, for better or worse! The advantages of hindsight...... :>)
